Where does stuff go?
You drop a pin upon the floor and find it’s gone for evermore
Or till upon its point you kneel or feel it in your naked heel
Gloves you were wearing yesterday you’ll find have disappeared today
When the weather’s even colder than what it was they ever told yer
That book you need, one of a pair, is now as if twere never there
(Its mate is there as if it were new but that’s the one no use to you)
Buried facts needed for verification deny all attempts at exhumation
Oh, they will come back if you don’t let it work you up into a sweat
(This is what your clever friends will say, guaranteed not to help in anyway)
The items in a shop which were needed have from your mind completely receded
(They say it’s to do with age a lot and maybe it is… uh… eh… er… what?)
At least glasses stay upon your head that’s because they’re only off in bed
Anyway, it’s not that you can’t see it’s just that things aren’t where they ought to be.
Forget that ‘thing’ that you once had, don’t let its absence drive you mad
For you will find it on the garage floor but only when needed no more
And just after you’ve bought another which turns out to be a load of bother
(And more expensive too than you feel is due)
Ask your family where something’s gone they shrug and look as if you’re dumb
That tool you thought you’d lent old Jack don’t bother asking for it back
Right or wrong he will say or shout not to know what you’re on about
Forget looking in that drawer if it was there it is no more
Files you thought safe on the computer have disappeared into the ether
The precious photos you thought to save have gone to some celestial grave
We all get to the top of the stair and find what was in mind is not there
You start to speak to a friend and can’t remember the end
A book you get half way through then find you have to start anew.
So where does all the stuff go is what I would like to know.
© RM Meyer
Braeintra, February 2023
