Honeysuckle: When Yesterday Will Not Leave

Honeysuckle is nostalgia that has stopped being a visit and become a residence.

The weather

Traditional interpretations say living in the past, homesickness for what was. Grief needs time. Honeysuckle weather is when time is no longer doing its job and the old scene is being used as a refusal of the new one.

Beside the profile

Honeysuckle already lives in this house as a profile: “Yesterday still running.” Homesickness, the past as a room you have not left. Memory is not the problem. Living only there is the weather. Bach filed it under Insufficient interest in the present — for those who do not take sufficient interest in present circumstances. The profile is the door. This essay is a longer walk around the same weather. Neither is a diagnosis, a product, or a treatment plan.

Memory is a library. It is a poor house.

A takeaway

Tell the story once, accurately. Then ask what in the present is being avoided by the rerun. The past can be honoured without being re-inhabited.

Readers exploring this theme may also find neighbouring rooms interesting. Similar weather across traditions is not proof that one system explains another.