It's clear the narrator is an elderly woman, and I think the first line, "it is late," alludes to that. As she reminisces about her life, she imagines her memories as a forest. In her mind, these memories are a living thing with the power to transform. Even though she is now old, she can travel to a place in her mind and remember herself as that 20 year old girl with the unblemished hands and smooth face who loved like she has never loved.
It's clear the narrator is an elderly woman, and I think the first line, "it is late," alludes to that. As she reminisces about her life, she imagines her memories as a forest. In her mind, these memories are a living thing with the power to transform. Even though she is now old, she can travel to a place in her mind and remember herself as that 20 year old girl with the unblemished hands and smooth face who loved like she has never loved.