The One You Imagined

A poem about what could have been.

When I was but a boy,
An old man said to me:
“Let not, that woman pass you by
The one who ignited a spark.
For the truest love is never
the one you imagined”

It is advice like autumn leaves.
It cannot be followed.
For to understand -
To see it.
Means it is too late.

These leaves pile up.
I live by moving forward
but can only understand by looking backward.
Events, people, opportunities...
Like autumn leaves.

I’d have loved you.
I know it.
But I let you fall.
I let you fade.
Like autumn leaves.

I spoke to a young man today,
And I begged
“Let not, that woman pass you by.
The one who ignited a spark.”