As elders
We suffer
The pain
Of our pasts

Niggles become nuisance
Ignorance becomes issue
Beauty becomes blemish

Choices
Made long ago
Become the chains of our present

Back then
I was free
To take any path
Oblivious of consequence

Now
Having walked those paths
Those consequences
Force me to keep walking

An adult
Bound
By the decisions
Of a child

I am
Who I am
Only because
I was
Who I was

Will future me
Resent these words?

Or will I look back
As I do now
With compassion
Knowing I did my best
With what I had?

All I can offer is
An apology
To the future

I am sorry
For the pain
My choices
Will bring you

This poem is from the book, ‘A Requiem For What Could Have Been: Poetry For The Broken’.

Read more from the colleciton, download a free copy, or purchase as a Paperback, eBook, Hardcover or Audiobook.

Why do you think
It will be ok?
Because thinking so
Takes your anxiety away.

How do you know
It won’t happen to you?
Because knowing so
Is all you can do.

What makes you certain
It won’t be a bad day?
Because you get down
On your knees and pray.

You don’t even believe
In the power of positive thought,
If it were someone else,
You’d say their methods wrought.

That they are just
As likely as another,
To undergo pain, loss,
And oh yes, to suffer.

Yet for you, you permit yourself
This one kind of fiction,
Because it allows you to function
With renewed conviction.

But what happens when
The charms and mind games fail?
What will happen when
Life causes you to wail?

Don’t you go thinking
That these words are lies,
That the message here
Is something to despise.

It is merely a warning
To get your house in order,
Because eventually life
Will throw it into disorder.

Look up the numbers
Apply them to your life,
Statically speaking,
You will go through similar strife.

But it doesn’t feel this way,
You are somehow special,
That’s just your ego talking,
With the words of the devil.

You will reap what you sow,
Getting what you deserve,
The actions you take now,
Dictate what life will serve.

Look at your past and trace life back,
What you did then put you on this track.

So choose wisely.

This poem is from the book, ‘Words On A Page’

Read more from the colleciton, download a free copy, or purchase as a Paperback, eBook, or Audiobook.

Poetry

An Apology To The Future

Choose Wisely

Zachary Phillips