Forbidden To Forget

Luscious swirls of fragrance
Tumble gracefully my way.
Fresh hot coffee;
Cookies baking;
Savory pie just out of the oven.

Choking puffs of dust
Force their way through the veil.
Old rotten eggs;
Sweaty gym clothes;
Teeth that haven't been brushed in a year.

All the past we can't escape.
The hopeful future we can't attain.
The chains of what's been said and done
Leaving us terrified to remember
But forbidden to forget