Remember - a poem

Shadows speak, the nights whisper
They say to me, let's try to remember
In hushed voices like the sounds of doom
They pierce like bullets into my gloom

I shiver, I cower by the lamp by my side
I shrink from the darkness, I shelter in the light
I don't want to, I scream out aloud
But no amount of shouting can drown the voices out

They come, they sweep, they take it all away
They clutch hard my hand and bring me another day
When scarcely crying I let go of a hand
My eyes rigid, my face a sculpture of sand.

And why, pray, do they show me her face?
Why must I feel again her imploring gaze?
Why must I be forced to see the tears wet her eyes?
Why must I be forced to hear the pain in her voice?

They are acid to me, those images I say
I don't need to remember, throw it all away.
But the voices don't stop, nor do the sights cease
She looks back with a sorrow that seeks to burn and freeze

And sitting by the lamp so afraid of the night
A part of me is solemn; indeed I did all right
But something else entirely does my heart speak -
"That day, you rascal, you burned a part of me!"