An Elegy For Lives Not Lived. Poem by Poireinganba Ningombam

Would that the laws of worlds unseen be true,
Where every choice beget another me;
And somewhere still, beneath a sky of blue,
I wear the dreams I once was wont to see.

May one still stand where all the bright lights fall,
And own the stage his trembling heart desired;
May one keep yet the innocence of all,
And one be art, as once his soul aspired.

May one still walk with those I loved of yore,
And gather fragments of each cherished thing;
May one have found what I was searching for,
Yet yearn for this life, and the songs I sing.

And may one still be eighteen, wild and free,
With every road untrodden—beckoning me.