These Memories

I'm being torn apart from the inside.
My head is being split in two by a force unknown.
I cannot sleep, eat, and hardly breathe.
The only thing I know are the thoughts that run through my mind.
Thoughts of people, places, times.
They are all I have, all I need.
I wander my mind aimlessly, searching for thoughts lost long ago.
As soon as I find one, another escapes my grasp.
I am trapped in a never ending circle of finding and losing my memories.
Memories of friends disappear, only to be replaced by thoughts of times and dates.
No longer can I remember their faces, their voices.
They are gone until I reclaim them again.
Several memories combine together, utterly confusing me.
"Will this cycle of lose and gain never cease." I ask myself.
The memories continue, they overwhelm me, they confuse me, they torment me.
I want it to end, I need it to end.
But they never will.
I am forced to live my life with these thoughts, real and imaginary.

Patrick M. Finney