No Regrets - Jan 6 2023

 

No Regrets

Jan 6 2023

No regrets

he whispered on his deathbed

through dry cracked lips.

I'll get to regrets soon enough,

but first

this hypothetical “death bed”,

at home

surrounded by loved ones

content to go.

A peaceful end,

the natural arc of a life

completed.

Instead of hit by a bus

or drowning in your own secretions.

Instead of cut off abruptly

before your time,

dying

in a hot stuffy cubicle

under cold fluorescent light,

consigned

to some bleak institution

that smells of piss

and mushy peas.

And what kind of life is it

you leave with no regrets?

Either you risked nothing,

your memory failed,

or you're so unself-aware

you're incapable of introspection.

I already have too many regrets

to bother confessing.

While this exceptional man

entered the world

an innocent child, a blank slate,

and is leaving

pretty much unchanged.

I do not envy him.

I will take my regrets with me,

having done my best

to forgive.

Yes, the half full glass

and heartfelt gratitude.

But also the bottle I never finished,

the strong drink I missed

because of inertia, fear

misplaced priorities.

The wishes

left unfulfilled.

The hard-won wisdom

I'll have the privilege

of passing on.