in order to remember the stories that folded so many lives into one , he recited them to himself in words that were rhythmic like music , and in this way , he composed long songs , epic poems , and he began to think about teaching these stories to someone else who could pass them on to yet another and down through the years for he wanted them to be a lasting gift , like the carved portraits , like the clocks had been though he tried not to think of the clocks in these waning years .