Regretting To Remember Poem by Lawrence S. Pertillar

Today,
Unlike others.
To have come to go.
Mostly ignoring,
A paying of attention.
With given commitment to listen.
Today,
Arrives in a unique way.

Today,
Unlike others.
Expresses no empathy,
To anyone dismissing interest.
Since what is being discussed,
Should wake folks up.
And for many be a lost opportunity.
To learn something mentioned.
That could prevent...
A regretting to remember,
Much too late for excuses to make.
With this to do and believe,
That such a responsibility...
Could be easily placed,
On someone else's shoulders.

Especially,
When those shoulders...
Relieved of their own issues,
Had then to them said,
"You and others too.
Should close your mouths.
Use your ears to listen.
Open your minds.
Although unaccustomed to doing this.
With a doing to show and express respect.
Even if the doing of it,
Is something new...
You have never done before in your lives."

Today?
And those to follow,
Tomorrow and the next.
Will come to disappoint those,
Expecting empathy for themselves to get.
Those days to tolerate,
Shared sorrows and the understanding of them...
Have gone.

Today?
And those to follow,
Tomorrow and the next.
If people don't know,
What is happening.
How. When and why.
To push that as a priority aside.
Is sad.
But not that sad.
To be glad to be the one,
Listening to pay attention.
With this to value what others say.
And do.
Whether done to intend or not.
Leaving nothing to regret.
Or left to remember wishes to have missed!