The Memory of an Elephant

by Alex Lasker

Elephant calves will not sleep without an adult figure nearby—even human, if that’s all there is—and they’ll look up constantly to make sure someone is with them. The longing in a young elephant’s eyes is haunting, and the attachment between the two species quickly becomes profound, sometimes even more so for the humans.

The earth we walk upon has no memory of us; its only concern is the constancy of day into night, season after season, and the memory of any one of us is soon gone from the earth forever. This gives me a great sadness when I dwell upon it, so I store every pleasing moment I experience so that I may visit them when the sadness becomes overwhelming.