Why I Take Good Care of My Memory Box

Why I Take Good Care of My Memory Box

By Gulrukh Shafiq, Grade 11

Because it’s beautiful and silent like a sleeping peacock

Because it opens the way an eagle opens its wings to fly

Because it’s innocent

and honest like a newborn kitten

Because it reminds me of myself

and secures things I value

Because when I open its lid, it sings to me beautifully like a nightingale

It squeaks at times because it’s old

Every time it falls, it survives

Just the way pigeons often fall but are able to fly again, higher than ever

It smiles when I clean it

Because it moans with pain when I close it aggressively

Because it’s alive but never moves, like alive sponges on the ocean floor

Because it’s ugly when it doesn’t open,

also when it’s empty

Because somehow it’s changing all the time

Because I can ignore it, but it can never ignore me.

Because it’s stuck in one place, forever it will say there.