Poetry – But We Are ‘Here’.

But We Are ‘Here’.

I awoke in the night and had to get out of bed to write this down. It is a variation of ‘The Road Not Taken’ but with some subtle (and not so subtle) additions.

I like the analogy of life being a journey. We can follow our path back down the many roads and lanes we have strolled. We can see the times we stood at obvious crossroads and made a decision that had immense effects upon our lives. Some of those decisions we regret. They did not change our lives for the better. If only ……

Yet we are here.

There is no going back. The past cannot be undone.

What we are less aware of is the tiny decisions that we make each minute that lead us down our paths. They are subtle but just as decisive. We live through habit and not by choice. We take the easy course and it is not always the best.

We are here. We have things that we hold dear. Who knows whether those other paths were really as good as we imagine. We rarely look at the great things we have. Our lives are full of things that are good that might not have been if we had stepped along a different route. There are things we would not swap for any other ‘here’.

We are here. Ahead, at this instant, is a world of possibility. We could stand up, walk out and head into a new life. We could sit and read another poem. We could buy a gun. We could write a novel. We could board a plane. Through force of habit we reduce our options. There are good reasons why most of those options are wrong. But there are many options that would bring improvement – with a little thought, planning and action.

We are here but there are a million ‘theres’.

We cannot alter ‘here’ but we can alter ‘there’ and we can fill the journey with laughter, love, song and poems. There will always be sadness and pain but life is what we make of it.

All we ever have is the moment.

Here is a good place to start.

But We Are ‘Here’.

I am going ‘there’.

But if I was going ‘there’ I would not start from ‘here’.

But I am ‘here’.

Behind me stretches a plethora of roads not taken,

Pleasures not tasted,

Wisdom unplumbed,

Adventures not thrilled

And experiences not relished.

Who knows what might have been?

But I am ‘here’.

This journey is a meandering line

And ‘here’ is but a dot.

But from this spot

A billion roads lead to an array of other ‘theres’.

Roads full of laughs, discovery and love,

Or roads of sadness, misery and longing.

There can be no regrets.

If I had not wandered my choice of lanes,

No matter how dark,

I would not be ‘here’ now,

With the things I treasure most,

For they are many,

And with the choices I now have before me.

I can only visit those other roads in dreams

And none of them lead ‘here’.

The array of roads ahead are not the stuff of dreams.

They are opportunities to be grasped

And relished.

For my meandering line is not yet ‘there’.

I see no full stop.

There is more life ahead –

‘There’ is at the end of the roads I have yet to choose.

Best not spoil the possibilities

By languishing in gloomy days of yesterday,

I’ll miss the signpost to that better ‘there’

And fail to taste the pleasures ahead.

For ‘there’ looms and the roads rises before me.

They are full of twists and turns,

I cannot see far ahead.

But I must raise my head and strain with all my might

To see a brighter path,

One full of poems, songs and love,

That leads to a better ‘there’.

‘Here’ could be worse.

‘Here’ is a good place to start for ‘there’.

Opher 9.12.2015  (thank you Robert Frost)