New Regrets

 NEW REGRETS

Edith Piaf had no regrets.

            She wasn't like me.

                        I have a few.

Like Cyrano

            I can list all the things

                        That could have been said,

                                    But weren't,

                        That should have been done,

                                    But wasn't.

The list would be a long scroll,

            Falling to the floor

                        And unrolling across it

            Until it banged against the far wall.

But all the regrets on that list are in the past,

            And we don't live in the past.

We live in the present,

            Which has already disappeared

                        As we plunge into the future.

We look at the past and we say

            Woulda, coulda, shoulda,

But we can't change the past.

            Not even God can change the past.

But we can learn from the past

            So, perhaps,

                        In that undiscovered country

            To which we are headed,

We will have completely new regrets.