For my eighteenth birthday
He wrote me a song.
Flutes and strings danced
in my honour,
a musical farewell,
recorded on cassette.
I filled the rest of the tape
with a treasury of captured moments:
His playing, my laughter,
melancholy dreams.
All synthesized on
The Lost Tape.
.
Years of wondering where it went.
.
Today. My birthday
I picked up an empty cassette case,
and it was not empty.
The case showed my face,
listed harp tunes by me, but inside
not me:
Ancient history.
A birthday present
from eighteen year old me
to middle-aged me,
magnetic taped
memories,
for time-travelling.
..
.
I feel inclined to add a photo, which I probably will remove later, so enjoy it while it’s here. The composer of the song, compiler of the cassette, my grad escort. Me at 18. (I had just been swimming, excuse the hair). 😉
Shawn L. Bird 
What an amazing find! Did you have anything to play it on?
My Beetle has a cassette player, so when I drove out to the kennel to pick up the dogs after my birthday weekend away, I listened. Whooped a little. Sniffled a little. Giggled a little. Sang a little. Remembered a lot. 🙂
That’s beautiful. True time travel…
Absolutely.
Poignant. 🙂
Thank you.
Cassette – brings back memories! There was no skipping to your favourite – so you’d listen to the whole thing – and learn it back the front. There’s heartbreak here – but coping too. Funny what we hold on to!
And be able to sing the next song before it started! 🙂
an amazing present. Thanks for sharing. And when you’re that young who cares if your hair is wet…
lol
It was amazing.
You were as beautiful then as now too.
xxx Massive Hugs xxx
A little darker hair and several sizes smaller, but otherwise, not too much different! 😉
Thanks for the compliment, you charmer, you.
Reblogged this on Formed From Sand and commented:
Happy Birthday to you!
Thank you! 🙂
I love this one. I can feel the heart that went into it and it’s beautiful!
Thanks Courtney!
A very cool short story… in poetic form. I like it!
Thank you; I’m glad you enjoyed it.
The feeling of finding old memories once lost. I’ve found much lately. Some happy some sad . . . all wonderful. The picture is priceless and compliments your words so perfectly. You were and are a beauty.. Don’t take it away!
Thanks, hon!
Fun find. HaPpY BiRtHdAy!?!? 😉
Thanks Keely!
Cassettes and a Beetle – now there is nostalgia Shawn, still have boxes of cassettes from my early days in radio – memories, memories – ‘those were the days my friend, I hope they never end’ – you could nearly put that to music and have a hit record (now I’ll have to explain what a hit record was, time to sign off I guess)
Don’t we have hit records anymore? Hmm.
My Beetle is from 2000, but still has a cassette rather than a CD player. I usually use one of the power outlets to run an FM transmitter than can play audio books from my iPhone.
Not a Luddite, despite appearances,
S/ 😉
This is a nice poem.
I love poems about memories, as well as poems about losing things and finding them again. Those are two of my favorite themes, in fact, for both poetry and prose.
I imagine looking through my collection, that applies to me, as well.
A very lovely poem. What a wonderful surprise for you. It must have been fun listening to after all these years.
It was, Michelle. Very poignant.
what a gift.. both the story and the experience!
You have no idea, Annette. (Unless you’ve Grace Awakening, then you might have an idea, for there is the germ of the story).
That’s awesome, a treasured find. Enjoying the big smile. Thanks Shawn.
Thanks, that was a pretty great day.
Cool, I can imagine.
Very cool. 🙂
: )
Don’t remove the pic! It’s such a happy thing to look at! Leave it! A service to everyone who wants more sunshine in their lives.
I do enjoy it, Lorien. But first loves can be sensitive topics, you know.
Love it. This is brilliant.
Glad you enjoyed it, Jason.
Oh, the picture adds so much.
My favorite lines were
“A birthday present
from eighteen year old me
to middle-aged me,
magnetic taped
memories,
for time-travelling.” ~ We got to time travel with you.~Marie
Glad you enjoyed it, Marie.