I remember, when I was a child, learning by heart the poem ‘I Remember, I Remember’, written by Thomas Hood in 1844. The opening lines stayed with me throughout my life, through many moves and different countries.
I remember how the opening lines got me thinking: “I remember, I remember, / The house where I was born”, because I was born in a hospital and wondered what it was like to be born in a house.
As I grew into adulthood, I took the lines with me, but with the house of my grandparents, where I grew up, making more sense. It was an anchor for me while I discovered a little more of the world. That house still exists, but it belongs to someone else and has probably changed a lot, as has life in modern times, which is very different from Thomas Hood’s life.
sun blinks through windows –
lilac will always smell sweet
while robins build nests
Kim M. Russell, 26th May 2026
Yesterday Frank hosted Haibun Monday at the dVerse Poets Pub, with the theme of remembrance, about which we have written many times before. In the UK, Remembrance Sunday is always held in November, so I stretched the theme a bit
writing in north norfolk 
A clear and lovingly descriptive remembrance – we hold homes in our bones perhaps – Jae
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Thank you, Jae. I think we do. Where I live now will stay with me until I die.
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The house we grew up in, holds ALL our earliest, memories, and, that is, what, stays, when we, remember that, very first, home, associating it with, the feelings of warmth, of, love.
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Beautiful memories Kim 💜
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Thank you, Maggie!
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Indeed… lilacs at this time of the year is such an important part of memories.
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They are.
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I loved the wistfullness of this haliban Kim! Funny I recently asaw my old house I grew up in back in Wyoming, and the new owner(s) totally changed it. They chopped down the beautiful plum tree in front of my room, painted over the bright yellow with (grey) and added a 2 car garage in the backyard. Sigh, its nice to remember without knowing the changes…lovely haliban Kim! And I do love the Robins…even if they start chirping at 3:37AM in the morning like they did today. 💕
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Thank you, Cara, for your appreciation and personal experience.
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It’s good to have those anchors. Even after they become memories.
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So true.
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This is lovely, Kim 🩷
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I know that Hood poem though not as closely as do you, such a good line. Memories of my siblings being born at home in Nottinghamshire with a mid-wife in attendance, while I was born in hospital. I note the passage of time in those last lines, it sure has moved quick when I look back. Your haiku has won my heart, beautiful.
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Thank you so much, Paul, I’m smiling.
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O good, thank you for writing this in the first place.
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