Street
Directory
Not
so much the road not taken,
as
the road not even seen,
until,
years later, looking through
the
street directory of your days
you
realize there were other ways.
Tracing
streets through several pages,
adjoining
maps and fresh eyes reveal
a
novel and appealing course
leading
to a different destination,
more
attractive than your present situation.
The
main road, signposted and well-lit,
it
seems that this was what your chose,
assuming,
of course, that you chose.
Or
did you, unthinking, just comply
and
follow others, the by and by?
And,
now, an impotent alarm
signals
the sense of having lost
not
something like your specs or keys,
but
something greater, the rich reward
of
a life examined and explored.
And
yet, regret, even keenly felt
is
nothing but a trick you play
with
thoughts and maps and disappointments -
a
ploy, a fraud, a fabrication,
a
blue and pyrrhic compensation.
Bruce
Greenhalgh
Bruce
Greenhalgh lives in Adelaide, South Australia, where he reads, writes and
occasionally recites poetry. A collection of his work has been published in Friendly
Street Poets New Poets 19 with individual poems appearing in various
anthologies and newspapers including the Weekend Australian and inDaily. He is
yet to write a compelling bio.