Horace Mann in my history class
Lived from 1796 to 1859

He was born three hundred years before me
And lived to be sixty-three

What if I died in 2059?
I don't want to die that soon.

I won't even get to see the year 2100!
I've never thought of that before.

I'd have to live to one-hundred and four
And that is highly improbable.

So maybe I'll live to 2076
That's if I get to be eighty

But even then...what if it comes
What if I'm dying, and I have regrets?

What if I'm eighty years old
And I'm lying there thinking

And wishing I had witnessed to those kids in highschool
Wishing I'd taken advantage of having grown up overseas

What if I'm lying there wishing
That I had more time

Wishing I didn't have to go
Feeling like I'm not ready yet?

I don't want that to happen!!
I don't want to die with regrets!!

No!! I still have 63 years
Until I'm eighty, that's enough, isn't it?

But.....that's only assuming
That I'll die of old age

What if I got cancer
Or what if there was a school shooting

Or what if another country set off nukes
Or what if I was on a plane and the plane crashed

What if I died before I got married?
What if I died before I got my love life straightened out?

What if I died without forgiving people
What if I died without forgiving myself?

What if I died without telling my parents
How much I appreciated and loved them?

What if I died without ever finishing a story?
I'd never be a famous (but dead) author.

What if no one remembered me,
Or missed me, or thought of things I'd done?

What if I never did anything worthy of remembrance?
What if it took me before I was ready?

What if
             I died
                      *tomorrow?