when i was younger , and i would be released from school , and all the math that was far too simple ( i could run calculations in my head with letters in place of numbers and with strange symbols i had seen in an old textbook my teacher , mrs. rose , kept locked away in a secret compartment under her desk , symbols that looked like this , among many others ) and the writing prompts that required us to summarize passages from the light texts or write what gifts from the one god we were most thankful for had fled from my mind , i would lie under my favorite tree , the old oak that stood taller than all the other trees around it , and dream for hours what i would do if i had infinite freedom .