The taste of this meal
Delivers me two decades back in time

I’m in that room again
Dining with those people

A wild youth

Care free

Uncaring

I suddenly remember
This twenty-five-year-old boy
Longing to escape the world
He found himself within

And I feel it -
The yearning
The surging tide of unfulfilled dreams
Bursting within my chest

The longing
To live
A life
Of fiery substance

And I can smell it
Once again
In this smoky, cool, autumn air

As the yearning rises up
Urging me
To rip myself out
From where I am