DREAM ON

you awaken one morning

and every important thing you didn’t do in your life,

every broken promise to yourself and to others

stands before you, a neglected “to do” list

regret has been writing for years now.

suddenly

the bell has rung

and all those things undone

are due today

at noon.

the unfinished painting,

the “someday” novel,

the adventures to foreign lands,

the song you wrote

and never played

for the woman you chose not to love,

so many dreams un-seized

arise now like ghosts,

and rocking back and forth

in a dreamlike stupor

you ponder the details

of the life you didn’t lead

and  wonder: 

“who made the very first rocking chair?”  and when, and where?

and you're still rocking back and forth

inside yourself,

haunted by the ghosts

of deeds undone,

hoping that this morning's rising sun

will lift you up and carry you high

into the blue sky of your desires,

without you having to lift a finger.

dream on…