30 Day Poetry Challenge - Day Seven

Day Seven - Write an ode to one regret that you have.

My Great Regret

Regrets, I know I have a few,

But none deflate me quite like you.

I can’t express, I can’t explain

The nature of my lofty pain.

A weight, a burden, unbearable stone,

A special hell I call my own,

I’ve let my chance at heaven go

As you’re the only heaven I know.

Our paths had crossed too late, it seems,

And now I see you in my dreams,

But I’ll go mad if I can’t let

Myself forgive my great regret.

Regret

Regret

Quiet whispers haunt my restless dreams,

A familiar voice; pained, weeping,

Crying her shaking sorrow into the darkness…

“You should have known better…

You should have done right by me.”

I toss and I turn and I punch my insolent pillow

While no peace finds me there.

I’m staring into the abysmal nighttime mirror,

Lost to the face of the one I’d betrayed.

I broke her heart

More effectively than a bowling ball

Carelessly thrown through a window pane,

And as I see the tearful hate in her eyes,

I know there’s no going back…

I could have been a better man…

I should have been a better me.

The honeyed words she once spoke to me;

The tender sparkle in her smile…

Gone… all gone… in my unforgivable cowardess;

My cruel ploy, reeking of fear and doomed to fail.

What have I really gained… what have I lost…

What have I done?

Her Face

Her Face

A drunk, defeated, tortured fool,

Lost in a smoky neon place,

Drank to make himself forget

The glow of her resplendent face.

He had her and so he had it all

Her warming love, his lady of grace,

But warmth was doused by bitter cold

That coolly pained her haunted face.

He brought that pain upon his love

He cheated and lied, to his disgrace

Betrayal reflected in her brown eyes

Rivers streamed down her twisted face.

He had her, he lost her; he lost himself

To whiskey’s fluid, numbing embrace

The bottle emptied, glass after glass

But at the bottom, he found her face.

Blind with drink, he stumbled onward,

Swerving from his parking space,

He turned; two lights came thundering toward him

And at the end, there shined her face.

I F**ked Up

I F**ked Up

By Brandon Palzkill

Oh, disappointment…

poorly conceived decisions

causing me anxiety.

I did it all wrong;

wish I’d done it differently…

is it too late to take back?