Changed Into Song

Will the pieces of the life you’ve lived
come together at the end?

Will the times that you reflected
straighten your path out, free of bends?

Are the places that you visited
more than way stops that you chose?

Are the feelings that you left with
still inside you—heaven knows?

Are your children still in contact,
do they ask you what you think?

Are your parents long forgotten
as you pour yourself a drink?

Are the days recounted backwards
with the best all left behind?

Does the silence serve to haunt you
with those things you cannot find?

Does the laughter fall on deafness,
do the smiles pass you by?

Are your friends left off your guest list
with no time for them to find?

Are the pieces of your puzzle
pointed sharp, and ill to fit?

Does your conscience wear a muzzle
with the blame an endless pit?

Is it what you said you wanted
when you started down this path?

Or are you now among the hunted
in a bad choice aftermath?

If before you’re gone, one chance flew by
a difference then to make

Would you hang on tight to all the lies,
or embrace this change of fate?

And if you do, the words will say,
you almost got it wrong…

Before you called those choices back
—and changed them into song

(Grantham New Hampshire: March, 2015)