Regrets I Won't Entertain Poem by Anitah Muwanguzi

Starts with I am sorry I could never love you

Resentment shimmering just beneath the veneer

your eyes will not meet

One of you is still in love, or trying to convince himself he is

One of you can't wait to get to her lover



Sparks fly,

you cannot stand to be in the same room at he same time.

Your little girl is tugging at your elaborate dress,

your tailored trousers

your son is itching to share his latest discovery

But you stare through your son, daughter,

for you they don't exist-

just a reminder of your many faults,

a reminder that you are living a lie



Staring daggers at each other,

The air between you too thick,

the fabric of your relationship too thin, too frail

On the edge of snapping



The hurt, hate, disappointment, loneliness, and regrets

nag constantly, neither of you recognize the other

Strangers trapped by your choices, by cruel fate

So I remember the song, Luther Vandross

'I would rather have bad times with you, than good time with someone else'



Why spend the rest of your life wishing for another

and destroying both of you while at it?

Regrets I refuse to entertain,



So I tread with my conscience, my heart on my sleeve,

and pray that when that choice is made,

neither me, nor you, or our children to come

will have to see us tear the skin off each other

so that our children will not see us destroy their dream for love,

beauty, and security



So that we agree to disagree

And teach them to have respect for them,

for others, to be grateful for love, life

For God above all things has made all things beautiful.



So when your eyes are too frail to see,

in those wrinkles I will see how hard you have smiled with me,

cried with me

And our children and their children, and their children's children

will have a legacy unrivaled.