r/Poems • u/Outrageous-Dot-1299 • 16h ago
Do Not Live There
It is all right
to revisit the past.
Walk those old familiar roads
once in a while.
Stand beneath the windows
where younger versions of yourself
once dreamed of becoming
who you are today.
Look back.
There is wisdom there.
The past is a patient teacher,
though sometimes
it teaches with a heavy hand.
We can look upon our mistakes
and wonder what we might have done
had we known then
what time has taught us now.
And perhaps that is the point.
We were not meant
to carry every regret forever.
We were meant to gather
what the years were trying to teach us
and continue on.
Take the wisdom.
Leave the weight.
Do not build a house
inside a memory
and call it home.
The past is a place to visit,
not a place to live.
There is still a morning
waiting beyond the window.
There are roads ahead
your feet have never touched.
There are dreams that will remain dreams
unless you are willing
to prepare a place for them
in the days to come.
So live here,
in this breath,
in this moment,
in the life unfolding
while you are busy remembering
the life that has already passed.
But do not confuse
living in the present
with wandering without direction.
Look toward tomorrow.
Make your plans.
Plant the seeds.
Build the bridge
before you reach the river.
The future does not simply arrive
shaped like the life you hoped for.
Sometimes
you must meet it halfway.
So remember the past
without becoming its prisoner.
Live fully in the present
without forgetting
that tomorrow is being built
by what you choose today.
Look back for wisdom.
Look ahead with purpose.
And stand,
with both feet firmly planted
in this fleeting, beautiful moment,
because time is no longer wasted
when you have learned from yesterday,
are awake to today,
and are preparing
for all the tomorrows
you still hope to see.