I Could Have Been.... Poem by RIC BASTASA

there are so many things
already that i have forgotten

of which i may remember but always with
regret

i could have been something else other
than a hammer to a nail

i always dream of wings of a hawk
claws of an eagle i still detest

i could have been a cloud, soft and blue and
drifting

all over the world
watching glaciers break and fall and turn into a flood

or water
i could have gone back to where i was once a child
and do swimming in the river with my naked innocent friends

where we do not plan for the day
about what to eat and where to work next and next and next

i could have been so irresponsible and innocent and weak
and die without regret

young and will always be mourned and remembered and then
well oh well just like everything and everyone

being let go and simply be forgotten.