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No Regrets


by Darryl Price


The choices we made then were not
wasted time. That's just unrest in
the air, looking for somewhere to 
go. We lived in a tent of hills, 
skies and rivers. It didn't seem 
all that strange. Because of you. I
know how that sounds, but I must confess, 
it turns out to be true. Those

choices were pure to the moment 
we were in, and I have no regrets 
to give you. We weren't looking
to invent a new kind of understanding, 
but we did it anyway.
It got us through another 
day at the tough times cafe. 
We had still to learn about mercy. 

Our hearts, our poor hearts were about 
to head into uncharted 
territories, populated 
with longer shadows and the last 
sad days of our summer winds blowing 
away together. Did you
hear what I said, it's nice to see 
your dark smile again in these words, 

but I'm not looking for a whispering 
ghost to play dead with? I've  
had enough of those through the grinding 
years of toil and trouble. 
This is just hello, I know you, 
you are someone I care about,
a person I remember as 
a friend. We rowed a boat out on 

a lake alone once. We made a 
special place for us just for fun.
No one else. Nothing mattered. Words 
were useless. We fed them to the 
curious fish like empty leaves. 
We pushed the whole world to the edge.
If it was up to me, you could 
have easily walked on water, 

with nobody watching. Now I'm 
feeling all alone. The words are 
mine, all mine. There's no one outside.
Obviously, I'm not too old 
to be writing this poem. This 
is just goodbye, in case. Goodbye,
good to see you one more time. Hope
you still get to use that laugh to 

see in the dark. It kept me from 
going blind in the night. We're getting 
down to it. It's not so bad now 
and it never was. I'm the same 
word tailor I promised you, stitching 
up beautiful seams wherever 
I may find them torn open
and lacking someone who cares to

notice. It's not a job. It's a 
way of being me all the time. 
Hello and goodbye, they're kind of 
the same thing, aren't they, just in different
circumstances they might
translate differently? Oh well.
I give them to you as my gift
to say I haven't got the words.


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