To Myself

To Myself by W.S. Merwin

Even when I forget you
I go looking for you
I believe I would know you
I keep remembering you
sometimes long ago but then
other times I am sure you
were here a moment before
and the air is still alive
around where you were and I
think then I can recognize
you who are always the same
who pretend to be time but
you are not time and who speak
in the words but you are not
what they say you who are not
lost when I do nit find you

When I read this poem I thought of my childhood and how life is changing for me. I am going off to college and will be starting my life. I feel like this poem is talking about a lost childhood in a way.
"Even when I forget you
I go on looking for you"
So even when we forget our childhood we still go looking for it. I thought that the reason we look for it is because our childhood has helped make us who we are so when we are stuck we look to what we have learned in the past to get unstuck.
"other times I am sure you
were here a moment before
and the air is still alive
around where you were"
This made me think of a moment or event that triggers a memory in your past.
"and you who are not
lost when I do not find you"
So even when we can't find our past it is not lost; it will always be a part of us for ass long as we live.