i regret that i did not see [...]

i should have been a time traveler
to visit Ancient Egypt and Rome;
to dance with Cleopatra;
ridden dust storms under the Arabian sun.

i should have been a time traveler
to hunt woolly mammoths with Neanderthals;
to cover my mouth from the Black Plague;
to march with my ancestors against the colonizing brigades.

i should have been a time traveler
to build the Statue of Liberty and the Eiffel Tower,
then climb their unguarded rails without gear;
to hang from their pointed tops alone.

i should have been a time traveler
to ease Christ's pain, and van Gogh's, too.
but the former received redemption for his solitary sacrifice;
the latter chased after wispy, proper winds:
worried and irredeemable;
loving, but inconsolable.

i should have been a time traveler
to watch people meet and collide;
secretly, to help them along- a little push toward, or strong tug away.

i should have been a time traveler,
then i'd expect every cause from its every action.

i should have been a time traveler.

i should have been a time traveler
if only to erase my worst mistakes.