In the Land of If Only
Deborah Beach Giordano
© March 5, 2010
There is a man
who lives in the land of If Only;
wherever he goes,
whatever he does,
he always turns away;
he always goes back home:
back to the land of If Only;
who lives in the land of If Only;
wherever he goes,
whatever he does,
he always turns away;
he always goes back home:
back to the land of If Only;
If only I hadn’t …
If only I had …
If only I went …
If only I stayed …
If only I don’t …
If only I do …
If only,
If only,
If only –
an endless plaint,
a mournful cry,
a waking nightmare
devoid of an answering dream.
A prologue to each thought,
the beginning of every sentence;
a life lived in reverse:
spent wondering
about what didn’t happen.
Wherever he goes,
whatever he does,
he always misses out;
never seeing what’s real,
only what might have been.
It is a sad and gloomy life,
there in the land of If Only:
there where time stands still;
where there is no present joy,
no future hope,
only a past
full of failures.
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