'Better by far you should forget and smile Than that you should remember and be sad.'

Over the Easter break I had to say the final goodbye to a very big part of my life. This left me at a loss and deeply melancholy, longing for the past and wishing that life wasn't changing at such a dramatic rate and passing me by so quickly. I spent hours looking through old photographs and diaries, in a bid to attempt to claim back my very happy childhood and reverse everything that had changed.

Then it occurred to me: change is natural, and change must happen in order for life to move forward. It is daunting, but I also get this fabulous feeling that something sensational will eventually happen. And in order for this to occur, I must learn to just smile at my memories and stop longing for them to happen again.

Memory, personified

You are a very singular affair

and stubborn, you will not repeat.

Often you are left behind

but will linger and gather dust

like the portrait in the attic,

which holds the darkest secret.

You are the oldest of old friends

and you make me smile,

but often you make me melancholy.

I sink into a blue ocean and wonder

‘Why have things changed so?

Can’t I go back again?’

But it isn’t in your nature.

You are content to reignite our

best, worst and more extravagant moments;

and in the darkest of times

you are the light.