Photo by Alejandro Benėt on Unsplash
all the difference
On the path not taken
incomplete thoughts and wishes
pair with longing and regret
along elongated line-of-sight
shrinking to a point-of-light
as all paths do when curving
beyond known horizons
I close my eyes for vision
the grass is greener, and yet
the air is thick and toxic
reflection fails to muster depth
strangers call me pops and grandpa
ex-lovers commiserate
in much greater numbers, laughing
at flaws, triumphs, cuts and scars
revealed only to their eyes
pale winter sunset invites frost
breathing artic dusk breezes, I watch
my trail turns away from light
Orion the hunter claims the night
as he pursues the Pleiades
my hunt dovetails to warmer days
for the path not taken
is uninhabitable
***
Written for dVerse Poetics: Time and What If?, hosted by Merril D. Smith. Other poets contributed to this prompt here.
Hephaestus’ Waste & Cosmic Rubble 
This was haunting an beautiful Barry. Really was caught up in reading it. Well written! Happy New Year to you, may 2019 bring you joy and peace!
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Thanks Rob. Happy New Year to you and yours as well.
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I was swept up in the imagery. We can only imagine paths not taken. I especially like this line…”my hunt dovetails to warmer days / for the path not taken / is uninhabitable”
Happy New Year, Barry 🙂
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Thank you.
(Also… I followed you, but somehow I wasn’t following you, so I followed you twice? WordPress can be so odd at times.)
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such a beautiful read, the words just perfectly balanced. I close my eyes for vision – if only we could do more of this, a moment of clarity in the chaos, oh Barry I really loved this.
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Thank you. I’m glad it resonated with you.
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This is such a beautiful, poignant poem. I like the imagery and the subtle rhymes. Well done!
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Thank you. 🙂
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We can all beat ourselves to what-ifs of paths not taken or choices not made. You painted a beautiful and heavenly night and I look forward to warmer days ahead.
Happy new year Barry!!!
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Thank you, Grace. Happy New Year to you as well. 🙂
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Excellent imagery. May we all keep walking down our own paths into 2019. Happy new year!
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Happy New Year to you as well. 🙂
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Great stuff!
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I’m glad you think so! 🙂
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I do love this… and some roads not taken are indeed never really an option… maybe just imagined like the constellations in the sky.
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Indeed. Or perhaps they were an option at the time? Who knows? I’m not omnipresent, so certainly not me. Thanks, Björn. 🙂
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Nice line: “I close my eyes for vision”
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Much appreciated.
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You should ignore strangers calling you Pops and Grandpa….The world is full of these superficial vacuous types.Nothing wrong with grey hair , felt slippers and big voluminous boxer shorts:) Happy New Year to you and yours !
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Did you just call me old and fat??? Cause it sounds like you just called me old and fat. lol
Nah, I’m kidding. I’ve been called worse. Thanks, Cressida! 🙂
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Bad enough to live in the past, worse to live in the past that never wa real. So incisive… and those stars glow. This is super Barry.
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