perevision

what do you feel?
the rush of time,
the tick of life
against your breastbone
pressing change.
you hear the misery of wasted years
wailing like a mourner at the mosque
crying "you could have been,
you could have done,
you would have been done
by now."
you were wiser when you were four.
you took time, clutching
with both hands and,
past the moment,
threw it to the wind.
you were what you could have been.

june 2003