poem before bed

i saw an elegiac portrait of my(self) in these lines today...the transformation of what the two years have brought, not just the period of hospitalisation recently spent away from home...a placid read before bed.Nothing is Lost

Deep in our sub-conscious, we are told
Lie all our memories, lie all the notes
Of all the music we have ever heard
And all the phrases those we loved have spoken,
Sorrows and losses time has since consoled,
Family jokes, out-moded anecdotes
Each sentimental souvenir and token
Everything seen, experienced, each word
Addressed to us in infancy, before
Before we could even know or understand
The implications of our wonderland. There, they all are, the legendary lies
The birthday treats, the sights, the sounds, the tears
Forgotten debris of forgotten years
Waiting to be recalled, waiting to rise
Before our world dissolves before our eyes
Waiting for some small, intimate reminder,
A word, a tune, a known familiar scent
An echo from the past when innocent
We looked upon the present with delight
And doubted not the future would be kinder
And never knew the loneliness of night.

noel coward (1899-1973)