Impressions

Ryan Jennings

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 A lifetime can be likened to a lonely beach of sand.
a stranger makes a mark one day, an imprint of a hand.
As time goes by the beach once clear is now a cluttered field
of memories and keep-sakes of the ones that we hold dear.
Time does its best to wash away remembrances of those –
the ones we never meant to meet – the ones we never chose.
But as though some odd twist of fate these are the ones we cherish.
The time we spend with these such friends, will never, ever perish.

• Read the poem once. Then read it again and find the literal meaning.

A lifetime can be likened to a lonely beach of sand.  Your life is similar to that of a vacant beach.
a stranger makes a mark one day, an imprint of a hand. Just like in your life, when someone first walks on a beach, they leave behind footprints or impressions.
As time goes by the beach once clear is now a cluttered field This once empty beach is now full of all sorts of impressions from all kinds of people.
of memories and keep-sakes of the ones that we hold dear. In this cluster of impressions, the best ones are what we remember.
Time does its best to wash away remembrances of those – The beach and our brain are one in the same as they try to erase bad memories.
the ones we never meant to meet – the ones we never chose. We never really do get to chose who comes into our lives.
But as though some odd twist of fate these are the ones we cherish. But it’s funny how everything happens for a reason, even something that seemingly should have never occurred.
The time we spend with these such friends, will never, ever perish. And it is those occurrences, those impressions, those people, that we remember.

~

• Read the poem again to find the connotative meaning of the poem.  “Why this word and not another?”

A lifetime can be likened to a lonely beach of sand. Everything has felt the grip of loneliness at least once. The feel for lack of substance or presence of something greater is universal.
a stranger makes a mark one day, an imprint of a hand. everyone/thing starts off as a stranger. It takes a good leap of faith to chose to make something no longer strange.
As time goes by the beach once clear is now a cluttered field
of memories and keep-sakes of the ones that we hold dear.
Time does its best to wash away remembrances of those – We do what we can to forget our pain, but it’s always subtly somewhere.
the ones we never meant to meet – the ones we never chose.
But as though some odd twist of fate these are the ones we cherish. Our fate as we all know is unpredictable. It has it’s fair shares of twists and turns that may at times astound us.
The time we spend with these such friends, will never, ever perish.

~

• Find the poem’s symbolic meaning. “What could this stand for…why?”

 A lifetime can be likened to a lonely beach of sand. The beach itself is obviously not lonely because it can’t have any feelings. Rather, lonely in this context could mean ‘untouched’  by a person
a stranger makes a mark one day, an imprint of a hand.
As time goes by the beach once clear is now a cluttered field Not physically a clutter field. The multiple marks can become so innumerable it can actually be flustering.
of memories and keep-sakes of the ones that we hold dear.
Time does its best to wash away remembrances of those – Time can’t wash away anything. The waves can, and your brain can “wash away” memories from one’s brain. (Although never permanently erasable)
the ones we never meant to meet – the ones we never chose.
But as though some odd twist of fate these are the ones we cherish.
The time we spend with these such friends, will never, ever perish.