The roulette of fate does not let you choose
the circumstances of your birth,
nor are the traits embedded in your character
of your own making.
But you can decide when and where
to step off the carousel of life
and take life in.
I descend at the quotidian stops,
not the tedious everyday places
but there where I glimpse an ordinary stone
glowing in the moon’s watchful beams.
And then I get back on.

Watching an artisan at work on a glass etching,
I suddenly remember my mother
teaching our children how to ornament bowls
with flower and animal designs.
I never thanked her for her efforts,
and the children took her patient instructions for granted.
How pleased she would be, these years later,
to see me admiring the intricate configurations on the bowls.
Alas, the gratitude is mine alone.
Regret is only for the living.