Do you ever dream of those children
we never decided to have; they show up
at our birthday parties and funerals.
They stand on the porch and keep
ringing the doorbell. We have no
obligation to the never been, but
potentialities haunt us, lost talents,
the silent piano, an untraveled trip,
an unsnapped photo, the boyfriend
I didn't choose instead of you,
all from the devil's collection of
unfathomable regrettables.

CC 2007 Sharon Mollerus