Can Never Regret Them Poem by David Welch

My name is Christopher Hobart,
and it would be a real safe bet
to say most of what I've done in life,
I have come to truly regret.

There's lots of thing that I could blame,
I was raised in a trailer park,
my dad died of an overdose,
and mother had an evil heart.

I'm sure that all contributed,
but now that I've reached mid-twenties,
I have realized that in the end
my faults begin and end with me.

I regret that first cigarette,
hell, I was only twelve-years old,
I hate that I stole from people
to pay that addiction's high toll.

I regret the first time I drank,
that it became my bosom friends,
I regret the slurs I shouted
when the court system forced its end.

I regret all the pot I smoke,
and selling it to that young kid;
smashing up that vacation home…
so many dumb things I did.

I regret smashing up three cars,
it's a miracle nobody died,
honestly, the whole of my youth,
there's nothing I can point to with pride.

I regret knocking up my girl
when both of us were but seventeen,
then doing the same to her best friend,
I still can remember the screams…

And though I regret those actions,
acting like such a worthless dolt,
I have to make just one thing clear:
I will never regret the result.

My girlfriend bore me a little girl,
and barely one month after her,
the ex-friend also gave to me
another cute, little daughter.

Neither was looking for children,
and signed their rights away freely,
the task of raising two young girls
fell now entirely on me.

For those first three months of so,
I'll admit I was quite scared,
I don't know what I would've done,
if my parents had not been there.

But those two girls gave me something
that I think before I did lack,
because every time I looked at them
something so wonderful looked back.

I don't regret the late nights up,
making sure that they're safe and fed,
or getting my jaw bumped a lot
when they learned to move their heads.

I don't regret spending beer money
to buy them both these tiny shoes,
or selling people once-owned cars,
so they are never short of food.

I don't regret the evenings
spent all curled-up on the couch,
watching shows they've seen so much
they can recite them all out loud.

I don't regret that it's been years
since I have managed to get out,
all that used to get me charged up
just seems so unimportant now.

Maybe there is a God above,
because I'm at loss to explain
how so much good can come from actions
worthy of such contempt and blame.