CHILDHOOD MEMORY

CHILDHOOD MEMORY

Pulsating ventilation I hear…

Growing up, the sound seemed so clear

Oft going to sleep,

The pulsing would keep

A-bouncing inside my mind’s ear.

As an adult I hear it at work

Upstairs where air handlers lurk…

Was surprised to find

Way back in my mind

That whining started to perk.

Now where have I heard that sound…

There’s nobody left around

That I can ask

To accomplish the task,

Is there any way to chase this one down?

Was it in a hospital bed

That this sound got in my head…

When Mom had born

Me early that morn,

And the nursery kept me instead?

Or was it underwater…

Where I nearly drowned but for Eve’s daughter

Who plunged in to save

A child under wave,

Who had a caring adult spotter?

—Jonathan Caswell