If I Had Only Known

If I had only known that my hair would

not always be lustrous and thick

and auburn...

would I have spent more time fixing it

each and every day?

If I had only known how fast my children

would grow up...

would I have spent more time playing 

with them and just holding them?

If I had only known that my time with

my parents would come to an end...

would I have spent more time 

asking them all the questions that

I now have about them and

their parents and grandparents

and what it was like for them

growing up?

I am not qualified to pronounce deep

assessments of Life and Love...

When I can see 70 on the horizon and

my body looks like my mother's and

time is going so fast that I can

hardly catch my breath...

I want to write something

significant and wise, but

others before me have written

books too numerous to count

so that all that is left for me to do

is to sit on our porch swing

and listen to the doves and the crickets

and know only that

life is much too short.