Memories
Countless memories
are stored in your brain.
Sometimes they rise up
again and again.
Sometimes they just stay
deep in the fleshy darkness.
Eventually you yourself
become only a memory
that either rises up
again and again
or remains deep
in the brain of another.
Only after everyone
who ever remembered you
is gone for good and all
does the terrible insanity
that once bore your name
achieve a true oblivion.
Good-bye.
Copyright Thomas Ligotti
This title originally appeared in Death Poems.
Thomas Ligotti is one of the foremost contemporary authors of supernatural horror literature. His work is noted by critics for its display of an exceptionally grotesque imagination and richly evocative language. In his stories, Ligotti has followed a literary tradition that began with Edgar Allan Poe, portraying characters that are outside of anything that might be called normal life, depicting strange locales far off the beaten track, and rendering a grim vision of human existence. For more information on his work please see: http://www.ligotti.net/
