Remember

remember
we say
because our memories
are like sieves
and we don’t
remember
from day to day

but he
he can never forget
though he tries
with medication
and alcohol
and activity

the images haunt him
day and night
more real than reality

he still flinches
at the sound of a helicopter
overhead

heart racing
schooling his brain
to relax
fighting against
the surge of his senses

and so a few days a year
we pause and
we remember
what he
he can never forget