I was thinking about how the memory of the present is easily lost in the shuffle. The future is unpredictable other than the inevitable, but the past has a certain clarity. Stories from the past want to be told, but as memories from the present become lost, so does that last time the stories were told, creating a new personal paradigm — the stories will be told over and over and over and over again.
Dawn
pTerodactyl at dawn
Stories Told A Million Times
By Timothy Price
[Verse 1]
Eyes no longer see the glory
Unable to focus on the future
They dwell on the past
Distant memories from years gone by
[Chorus]
Have I ever told you the story…
Yes, dear, you have. A million times…
How about the time I…
Yes, dear, you have!
[Verse 2]
Experiences lived years ago
Are as clear as yesterday
While yesterday seems a distant past
Long forgotten, swallowed by the mist
[Chorus]
Have I ever told you the story…
Yes, my friend. A million times…
How about the time I…
Yes, my friend, you have!
[Bridge]
Mind goes numb
Speech grows dumb
Stories once told
Now on repeat
Played over, and over
And over again
[Chorus]
Have I ever told you the story…
Yes, grandpa. A million times…
How about the time I…
Yes, grandpa, you have!
[Outro]
Will you remember my stories told
When I’ve passed on, dead and gone?
Stories told a million times
Do they get retold or die with the old
Buried and lost to the living
Told and retold among the dead
Off Center & Not Even 
Thought provoking lyrics Tim. Memories are a fickle bunch. With no one to tell they are wasted, told too many times they are ignored, the act of telling can be therapy in themselves, repeated to often they annoy the told, but in truth they are the things that keep our sanity and give us the most joy in our closing years
Our stories are important to our well-being, but it becomes more difficult to remember who you told the stories to. When I was a kid, I used to ask my grandma to tell me the same stories over again and again. They never got dull. But today, we are so inundated with information and media, that telling a good story more than once to the same person is considered a sign of dementia.
True. Something tells me each retelling from Grandma was slightly different and more entertainingy
Could have been.
What a great post on multiple levels. Stories we share together popped up first, but then so many others. Many are happy, some are sad. So much to think through again.
Thanks, Susan. Your stories are especially important to you, and you have so many interesting stories to tell. I love listening to your stories.
A moving, mellow piece Tim!
This is why people engage in the arts. Music, books, poetry, paintings, sculpture, etc. A piece, or more, of their moment is re-lived in what they leave behind.
The tyrants and power mongers’ stories are left behind, and yes, they destroy art so we do not get to find alternative stories.
That’s about all we can do until the sun burns out… leave a mark… on the cave wall.
xo-
Ps your sunrises and sets are a beautiful tale… a painting in motion of what you said here.
Thanks for your wonderful comment, Resa. We do keep our stories alive through art, and there are so many power-hungry people who want to destroy art and the stories we tell through our art. But they also seek to destroy it through healthcare. As I mentioned to Brian, if you tell a story more than once to the same person, health professionals say it’s a sign of dementia.
LOL!
Oooogagagaga! I am sooooo demented!
Lock me up before I make yet another gown… or worse – draw something, again.
They could be – Wealth Care Confessionals.
(Lock me up before I make yet another gown… or worse – draw something, again.Lock me up before I make yet another gown… or worse – draw something, again.)
xoxo
Like one flew over the cuckoo’s nest? Another gown sewn, another sketch drawn, one then the other over and over and over again. It’s a straight jacket for you, young lady!
Of course, our place is certainly a cuckoo’s nest with crazy cats, crazy cat people, and all our antics set on repeat, played over and over and over again.
This song reminds of the time when i…………..oops, here I go again!!!!!!!
There you go again. Thanks, Geoff.
Those stories look like they could be told forever and a day with the retelling to wide eyed great-grandchildren…
One would hope so. Thanks, Cheyenne.
Wonderful post.
Thanks, Gigi.