In the late 80’s I lived in Ascot, UK, very close to the racecourse. One evening, I went for a walk as the sun was setting. It didn’t take long for the road to become dark since there were no streetlights where I was walking. I continued on my walk, but found that I was recalling my teenage years in rural Central Ontario, Canada. What an effect! Afterward, I wrote this poem.

Until Last Night

You can’t imagine how the memory

Of summers long ago affects my mood,

Until last night: I forgot the glory

That fields of grass give me; an interlude

Has passed between my teenage years and now;

Forgetting basic joys of Nature’s way,

Until last night, I thought of horse and cow

Left in the pasture with the wheat and hay.

So full, my mind bursts forth to light the road,

Until it re-illuminates my path;

My knowledge of the past, key to the code

Memory locked away, is peace, not wrath.

Emergent from forgotten fight or flight,

Remiss was I to life, until last night.