Wishes

I mentioned the notebook of cringe-worthy poetry I found a few weeks ago. When I first found it, I opened it and said “oh jesus, that should have been thrown out 25 years ago”. Alas, it was stuffed in a footlocker instead. At first glance, I thought it was stuff from high school, but it’s all dated from the spring of ’96 – a year after I graduated. I went through a difficult time for a few months. I’d split up with my high school boyfriend a couple of months earlier, and I regretted it. The first page of the notebook dated March 11, 1996.

Wishes

Once again I've lost at love,
And life has kicked my ass,
And I lay drowsy in my bed
Wishing for the past.

I've wished on everything there is - 
On clovers, stars, and candles,
But could someone please explain to me
Why my world is still in shambles?

Days of laughter, nights of tears,
We held each other close.
Yet we never really told each other
The things that mattered most.

So now let me wish upon my stars,
And dream about the past,
But listen as I tell you this: 
It had a chance to last.

This dumpster fire has been burning for decades.