Missed Opportunities

There was an old man who looked in a mirror. Skin wrinkled and leathery under his beard. He gazed and thought back to an earlier time. Remembered mistakes which added fine lines. Each crack a chasm, every mark had it's tale. From lost love to convictions which ended at jail. As his eyes wandered slowly careful to screen He saw a particular wrinkle that shook his whole being. "what if" "could have" and "certainly not" Pelted his heart, his stomach tied in a knot. Then the thought faded as quick as it came. His throat was left swollen, his mind was to blame. Try as he might his eyes wouldn't shed water And a single tear never was released to go wander. His lines and scars remained dry as the desert His stomach still tied, his mind all a flutter He never quite realized that that particular mark Was the one thing he longed for, his mind left in the dark.