This is the life you’ve been given.
Well…it fits too tight
Like those jeans of yours
You know
The ones in the
Back of the closet
The ones you last wore
When you were seventeen
going on thirty.
The ones you tried on
Last week
When you felt that desire to
Make an exchange,
To return what you have
To relive those high school and
College days
That weren’t so good
To begin with.
Life has moved you on,
Has given to you
Its no returns,
No exchange policy
In the form of
A spouse,
A child
(Maybe two),
A home,
A faith
more mature
Than what you once had
Even so
You look during
Dark, quiet evenings
At the
“What could have beens”
And the
“If onlys”
And you tell the shadows
Of the past that you would like
To make an exchange
But not really.


i know those thoughts.
this is good.
Beautiful pages here… lovely poem. I can relate very much – enjoy the ending
I’ve clung to those “if onlies”. This is one I think we all can relate to!
If only this, then that.
Not that. That!
Price tag’s been torn off.
And that shirt’s got a
button missing.
And can’t you see how
the sole has worn?
We all got our patches.
Some of us
wear them well.
brave honest words with resolve.
So much of my truth right here in your words.
Ooooo, this is a good one. Yeah, sometimes my life fits too tight.
“no returns,
No exchange policy”
Great reason to make each day beautiful.
Captivating – could read it over and over.
An exchange of old for what once was new, seeing the threadbare sleeve and the patch on old dreams back-stitched to the future when we reach. But the white robe and crown we found along the way, would we exchange those? I liked your thoughts. A good perspective.
I’m glad I’m not the only one who feels this way.
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