Written during a Craft of Poetry sampler class (Women Writing for (a) Change). There were several prompts. The one I chose was "Only the things I didn't do crackle after..."
Only the things I didn't do
crackle after the smoke clears
The decision is made.
It's time to go.
I accomplished a lot
and yet
there is still so much left unstarted
or unfinished.
Am I burning bridges?
Am I abandoning things I started
and thought were failing?
Yes No.
Everything I did here
mattered
to me
Maybe to others.
I did things
I wasn't sure I could do
I did things I never imagined I would do.
I had setbacks and leaps forward.
Now it's a new year,
time to move on,
leave last year
behind.
As amazing as it was,
I can't continue
to bask in its
fading glow.
It's time to move on
even though the things I didn't do
call to me
ask if I will come back.
No,
I answer,
I won't return.
I rarely go back.
Things specific to this place
will remain
here
undone.
Things I can do elsewhere
I will take
with me.
Maybe I will work on them
Maybe I will decide
they don't interest me anymore
and start new things instead
Either way,
The things I didn't do
will remain in my subconscious
poking out at random times
reminders of earlier hopes.
There's space in the new year
for me to celebrate the past
think about the future
live in the present.
Continuums of time
will be with me, in me.
and at year's end
I will again take stock
decide what to leave behind
and what will remain.
Start anew.
