I Closed My Eyes

I closed my eyes, counting to ten just as they had taught me. But this time it didn’t help, and I found my thoughts racing through an almost endless stream of memories. I recalled the simpler days of childhood and peaceful walks of solitude. I recalled laughter by the fire, singing in the forest, and reading lengthy books on the porch on a summer evening. And then my mind stopped on the most dangerous place of all; I remembered the days when thoughts and words were free. When the past wasn’t destroyed and learning erased. They want us to forget.