Thoughts on Living Another Life...

"What would life be like to live in a different family upbringing?" 

A writing prompt by Lani Quinones of San Diego, California

On nights prostrated and tongue-tied 

I may have never heard the screams.

Maybe, I would have arisen in a different state

in a foreign area that I never lived in. 

And should this new skin thrive on bone,

walk me to my dreams? 

Would I still have to duck

those known assholes–

in that space that I had already been in? 

Would I find happiness in a yard? 

Would I find it in what I see? 

Would I have found the love I wanted,

that I missed in this reality? 

Would the wanting feint much quicker? 

Would the yearning plant my life,

From the distance I had already ran 

in the marathon of living twice?

Would comfort find a fonder friend? 

Would it blanket me in dreams? 

Would my madness be the fondest lover

At the place, one heart would finally beat?

Harrowsome are these lines,

When pondering on a face 

Would the old one that I once adored

Be the one that I stare with fate? 

Should the woven path be cinched 

Should its road diverge and splice 

Should this road that this story brings

Be the road, where my love still rides…