Live long enough
It’s a good bet
You’re gonna accumulate regret.
With me, youthful mistakes
Manifest in the shower
Bursting unmasked, clarity’s power.
How was I so stupid?
Yelping with chagrin
Aged missteps alive again.
Despite water and suds
I cannot wash them away
Dunce cap moments here to stay.
Chattering whispers
Turns right instead of left
Loss minted fresh, again bereft.
“Are you okay?” the wife asks
While brushing her teeth
As husband follows memory’s crease.
“It’s nothing,” I say,
Echoes fading from an old row
Hard to put my hand to the plough,
And move on
Leave history in its dustbin
With all my accretions of sin.
Toweling off
Lather, shave and dress
Pushing away life’s mess,
Out the door
To make new mistakes
Grist for another shower to take.
Live long enough
It’s a good bet
You’re gonna accumulate regret.
