Oh God, I want my other life back~
the one where I was young. . .
and healthy. . .and carefree.
Where nothing really bad ever happened~
(that couldn't be fixed with a band-aid
or a long talk
or a hug).
Where more life beckoned before me
than lay used behind me.
That wonderful 'other' life whose
biggest problems were paying bills
and making the kids behave.

That special place in time when no one
I loved was really old,
really sick. . . or really dying.
Why did I hurry so to get here?
so determined to follow quickly
those before me to this place~
Never dreaming I'd arrive . . . so soon!
I look ahead and see places
I don't want to go~
I look behind me with tear-filled eyes
at places I wish I'd stayed
. . . a little longer.
I hear the racing, anxious footsteps
at my back now~
and I try to warn them. . .
"If you could see where I have been~
see what I see ahead. . .
you'd walk slowly. . . so slowly. . . "