Time and Places

I just flashed back
Seven years ago
And I could see
And feel the pulses
Of that time and place
And then I realized
It’s all gone
And only exists inside
My head.
It really wasn’t
too long
Ago
But it seems like
Forever right now
And then I further contemplate
Times and places
A street in New Orleans circa 1991
A high school hallway in 1983
An elementary school playground in 1976
And I have flashes that ring around
My head
That feel so real
As if I was there again
And then I fade back and realize
Its remembrance of things past,
Proustian moments of escape
Which eventually make me realize
I’m right back here
In the present
That just ticked away into the past
And that one day in the future the
Reality of my life now
Will be flashes of memory
Some day in the future
And I’ll ask
Once again
Where did the time go?