Sacrifices at Paper Poetry

Regretting Life in an Empty Nest

A poetry challenge

Image by Author using NightCafeStudio with the poem as a prompt

Hand-wrought revelations
announce a longing to examine
the losses reflected in a dream.
This portent brings a yearning
for abandoned cereal bowls
haunting my kitchen table.

The death of a day-old bird
brings regret that tastes
of bitter family memories.
We survived each other
with exquisite sadness,
as the threads of time
sewed unspoken words within.

Even though our souls align,
we may be strangers for this time.
Shedding shame like shaking leaves,
I mourn the moments
that never came to be,
harkening the hungers
erased from my mind.

Choices set aside,
reject reimagined lives.
The series of steps not taken
are mirrors of my wasted chances.
They reflect as payback
for the paths I chose to walk.

Life is just a birdsong long.

Thanks,

Carolyn Hastings

, for your inspiring prompt ‘Sacrifice’

The Sacrifices We Make