Linda Studley

Past Perfect?

If I could remember the future
the way I remember the past
perhaps I could make alterations
to plans and find true peace at last.

But then, upon further reflection
I recall that my memory is flawed,
I often recall, over fondly,
things that never happened at all,

or places and names are all fuzzy
and my actions may not have been quite
as heroic as I now recall them,
in edited, rosy hindsight.

So if I remembered the future
the way I remember the past
I’d probably make alterations
that would set me right down on my ass.

We can’t change the past, that’s a given
but we can change the future, I guess.
just not in a way that we can control.
without making a terrible mess.

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