elegy of a photo not taken

Elegy for a photo not taken

Flames lick at the bottom of the page
Eating word after word
Turning them to ashes
In the bottom of my shoe
Socks forever stained
Their soggy foot prints
Haunting my past on every street corner I turn
My filth mixing with the dirt of others
Until I can’t tell my past from theirs
You try to gather the pieces
But somehow their memories mix with yours
That trip to the grocery store last week
Ends with you on some beach in a far off country
Sipping a fancy drink shielded with an umbrella
Laced with promises to come
So many of these memories that aren’t even yours
Makes you realize how lame your life is
They make you wish you could be like them
With their posh and privileged lies
Memories of movies you watched
Where people come to the realization their life means more than the one they yearn for
You wish you could make that realization
It never comes
Instead you wallow in self-pity
Always wishing for things just outside of your reach