NO REGRET

there is time and there is place
above the quiet of it all-then, as now
absolve oneself to memories lost
try as they might, like words on a page
to form the familiar;  all the joy the sadness
the mundane, waiting collected, gathered
to this place, to go to in time of need
as one does  in reflection, introspection
to consider, to establish, to determine
if only by chance, to let in, or turn away for good
in this time of why and what will be, to witness
to interpret the past, present and future by the ashes
of the once was, drifting, lifting away, simple now, in quiet
flakes of gray snow swirling, gathering to float upward
into the winds of change, as one individual swept up in the
middle of it all, gathers their thoughts, looks skyward  and
readies themselves once more to continue walking
along the many miles of shore in the name of no regret

By Michael Perry