If only I would have listened
to my mother, when she told me not to go.
I wouldn’t have had to feel the sand
slipping through my fingers below.
My father would not have had to come running
to save me from the undertow.
If only I would have listened
to the manager of the shoe store
my shoes could have glistened
before they became christened.
If only I would have listened
to myself when I said stop.
Was that eighteenth piece of chocolate worth the future blood clot?
I think not.