The Memory Keepers Daughter post 2 by Kim Edwards

Too many mournful yesterdays,
Have put my anticipating tomorrows in doubt.
Crying in tears of shameless regret,
The future lies in a shadow of doubt.

Inside I want to watch the new sun rise,
Yet I can only breath beneath the moon.
Maybe one day I can step outside of the shadows,
That leaves my soul sheltered in a cocoon. 


This is a poem by an anonymous author online, I picked this poem to relate to my book because it is about regret and pain which is all the feelings that is mixed into their lives. David henry gave away his daughter and all these years the memory of that night has haunted him, his wife norah starts to regret every aspect of her life-her marriage her childhood, never getting to hold her daughter, and paul regrets never being closer to his dad and his mom; who I think was most affected by pain and regret, was the one person that was able to escape from everything and start anew-Caroline gills the one that took Pheobe and raised her away from everyone. I think the reason that she is most affected is that what could have happened is poisoning her always. she dreams in fantasies and in what ifs never living for the moment and processing what is really happening. when she wakes up from this dreamy sleep and finally looks at what has happened and who's child exactly she is raising, then regret will riddle her life and poison her slowly from the inside just like it did  to  the Henry's, except this time it is going to hit all at once all these memories that she has let drift by will come rushing back to hurt her, she started this pain when she took the baby in the car and drove off to her new life,she may not have caused it but she started it and this is a continuous cycle that once started can never end.
to me this poem means that what happens yesterday has poisoned tomorrow or affected everyday after, that this regret over shadows them keeping them in the darkness of tears and pain, and that one day this person hopes that they can leave this pain behind, and start a new life away from tears and depression. I believe that this is what all the characters in this book strive to accomplish as well,they want to leave this invisible wall keeping them back,they want to leave the pain that haunts them all that dont even know exists. The wish to live to live like they always dreamed, a suburban family playing in the sun, but even when the sun shines the brightest it can never touch them.