Watching aspirations blow away

upon breezes of despair

and I can’t help wondering

where all the time went.

Once I was young

and the days stretched before me

like the proverbial gold paved highway of opportunity.

Yet the seconds ticked away

and were carelessly spent.

The days added up into years

until…

One day I awoke in fear,

an old man

in an old man’s bachelor apartment,

looking back with regret at my vanished youth

and finding the words

I could’ve been

tattooed upon my lips.