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?