You hear an aeroplane whine overhead
And your life flashes before your eyes,
Not the life you are living but
The one you always imagined,
The one your mind promised your heart
Before it learned not to build hope,
And it is as though that
Winged tube of metal contains
All the things you didn’t do,
All the places you didn’t go,
All the people you admired from afar
But never met, and they all fade
From your sight as they
Shrink into the distance and
The sound softens in waves until
All you can hear is your heartbeat
Trying to decide whether the tempo of regret
Is fast or slow.

11/28/2023

Posted on 02/28/2024
Copyright © 2025 Richard Vince