Memory's Code

I walked past the school today, the bells still ring,

a flash in my mind, where those echoes take wing.

Fingers fumbling with numbers, my heart in a rush,

outside that rusted locker, the sound of a hush.

A turn of the dial, like the clock of my youth,

memories twisting in shadows of truth.

Graffiti and wear, like a map of the years,

I still know the code, buried deep in my fears.

What holds us together? What fragments remain?

A locker, a promise, the weight of the strain.

I count all the moments that came after then,

those numbers, they echo, they linger again.