I

I wish I was young again.

I want to be good looking.

I would like to have cool friends and drink hot exotic coffees at foreign cafes.

I want there to be more time, time with my children, time with my wife, time with best friends, pets that have come and gone.

I wish I was healthy and not terminal.

I don't want to be tired all the time.

 I want more tattoos and a piercing.

I want to wear brainy looking hip glasses and wear sock caps even in the summer.

 I want to speak a different language fluently.

 I want to spend euros just to feel more European.

 I wish I was a better singer.

 I wanted to be a great lover and a better friend.

I wanted fame and fortune.

I want to eat healthier.

 I wish I had a good job.

I want to be loved.

I needed to feel less lonely.

I want to hug more.

I want to meet strangers and turn them into friends.

I wish there was more of me to go around. 

I want to work hard and play harder and be rewarded for my efforts.

I want to breathe naturally.

I wanted to be a better son.

I wanted the truth and I wanted to make up things for when the truth was to much for me to bear.

 I wish I had life long friends.

I wish I wasn't overweight. 

I wish, just once, I had a girl obsess over me and stalk me, just a little.

I want holidays to be with family.

I wish I lived with my children.

I wanted someone there for me.

I needed someone there for me.

I want treatments to hurt less.

I want to feel more... life.

I wish there was a cure.

I needed to be free.

I lost my idea of freedom.

I wish I could change.

I wanted to be much, much more.

But this is it. I am just me. It is all I have.

Reviews

[Matt Sayer]

This is so incredibly stirring and personal, Raymond. We all want so many things, many of them immaterial in the grand scheme of existence. But some, some things we wish for because they would make the world a greener pasture, a more bountiful garden for all to stroll. Your words and your inflection lend so much emotion to the despair of desire, the pain of the unobtainable. Truly heartfelt and resonant, Raymond. Well done :)

[Lyn Anderson]

I really like it, and I like the way you recite it. If this is about a real illness you or a loved one are experiencing, you are in our thoughts, and thank you for sharing with everyone.

[R. L. Hill]

This made me tear up, Ray. You have ripped open your chest for us and that moves me. So real. So honest. You were seriously pouring yourself into the page, and it may not beautiful, but it's you. Thank you.

[Shane Hogan Poetry]

A poem painted by the truth of heart.