May 2020
I need a reset button for my life,
A chance to chart a course on a blank slate,
Unplant the seeds that blossomed pain and strife,
And brought a bitter harvest to my plate.
I walked by open doors that closed behind,
With eyes fixed only forward on my course,
Trying to do what’s right, I’ve been unkind,
Attempts to avoid pain just made it worse.
I should have explored many other paths,
That led to orchards that would bear sweet fruit,
My solitary one has led to wrath,
The seeds I planted would themselves uproot.
What use is wisdom when it comes too late?
There is no reset button to cheat fate
A chance to chart a course on a blank slate,
Unplant the seeds that blossomed pain and strife,
And brought a bitter harvest to my plate.
I walked by open doors that closed behind,
With eyes fixed only forward on my course,
Trying to do what’s right, I’ve been unkind,
Attempts to avoid pain just made it worse.
I should have explored many other paths,
That led to orchards that would bear sweet fruit,
My solitary one has led to wrath,
The seeds I planted would themselves uproot.
What use is wisdom when it comes too late?
There is no reset button to cheat fate
I've completed my first novel. It deals with themes that have hit too close to home. The bittersweet pain of so many could-have-beens come to the surface in fiction that too closely emulates life. If only we could rewrite our own lives--make different choices, walk through the many doors that remained open in our youth that we ignored blindly trudging on what we mistakenly believed to be the right path. What would I give to be able to rewrite the novel that is my life and find happy endings for myself and all I've touched? What would I give to unring bells that should never have been rung? To undo pain to loved ones brought not by malice but by misguided good intentions? That may well be a future novel in itself--I've already explored the theme and one imperfect technological solution in a novella. We do not have a reset button in life. Thank God we have the power of words and the solace of poetry. They are often the only sword and shield that can stave off despair.
