What’s known in the memory

Of all that passing life
           what remains
is what’s known
           in the memory : a river
in County Waterford
           flows through my mind
the heathered bank where I stood
           with my cousin Paul
under the summer sun
           so we cast our hooks
and watched as they drifted
           downstream

that youthful day the trout
           were too shy
or too cunning
           and they avoided our bait
and so we returned home
           empty-handed

but Paul
           who has passed
along with that day
           lives in the memory
and I am always
           who I was
going to be
           just now