They come back in my music. Of course, for the musician this doesn't tell anything about the music. Counterpoint and harmony are stronger than melody. Just like the music of Josquin and others of his era, my music is a contruct of several voices each singing their own stories. You won't find a main melody while the other voices build a harmonical wall behind it.
Voices take over each other's melodies.
A melody that has begun by, say, the alto voice, can be completed by the soprano. Then the e turns into e flat, changing the tonal into g minor, etc. It gives a dramatic effect. Of course, somewhere the change must be made the other way, always leading to surprising changes in the music. Often, the changes are not being made in all voices at the same time.