Shadows Of What Was Poem by ashok jadhav

Time moves with a quiet cruelty,
stealing moments I thought were mine,
folding them into memory like fragile paper
that tears if touched too often.
I carry regret in the spaces between breaths,
the words I never spoke, the steps I never took,
the chances I let slip through trembling fingers,
now lost to hours I cannot reclaim.
Memory is a double-edged companion,
bright with what once shone,
yet sharp with what I failed to hold.
I see faces, places, and laughter
that belong to a world I can no longer enter.
And so I walk, burdened by the past,
learning that time does not forgive,
that regret lingers even in quiet nights,
and that love, choices, and life
are shadows I must carry home.