There was once a swing hanging from an old tree,
By the house on fifth street.
And as a little girl everyday I would go to play
On that swing and fly high
Oh so high! Up in the sky !

Until one day the swing broke;
There had been a storm the day before .


A few years later I found a rock
High up on the hill top.
I would stand on it and stare
At the big vast city below;
Marvelling, wondering ...Amazed!!

Until one day we left the town
And the hill top far far behind.


I had a fish once, it wasn't mine per say;
It lived in a pond , just outside school
And I would go to it everyday.
It gave me such joy to have this friend,
It was missing a fin, just so you know.

Until one day I saw a cat by the pond;
The fish was no more .

Many years later I fell in love,married and had a child.
He was a wonderful man, my husband-
Kind generous compassionate
And I love him so !

But one day he came home with a doctor's report
A year hence, he was no more.

I married several years later
But that love I could never again find.
And now at eighty I lie on this bed
Counting till it's time.

And every time I think of that swing I curse the storm;
I think of the hill, wishing I could have stayed;
I hate the cat that ate my fish;
But more than that, I hate the disease that stole my love.


Then I realise, I should instead revel
In the euphoria from the swing and hill;
And think instead of my fish and not the cat.
Cherish those memories with my husband
And not dwell on that last year of his life!

But some how, the glass was never half full for me
.
.
And all I have in the end is Regret