Lesson
All I have is one shining moment,
just before my face.
What I choose to do with it
is my decision
and mine alone.
I cannot choose what you do
with the shining moment before you.
I wouldn’t, even if I could.
I can only reach forward,
with eager hands and unfearing mind
to grasp the one in front of me
and let it do with me what it will.
It may bring me bliss,
it may bring me pain.
I will delight,
I will suffer.
I will not look beyond the moment for more,
I will not look behind me, and regret.
Becky Sirrine is a divorced mother of five and grandmother of five who lives with her partner Earl, and her dog Albert, in Mesa, Arizona. She has been writing poetry since April 2013, and has previously had poems published in Psaltery and Lyre and Exponent II.