D - Decisions, Decisions

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I think of blackbirds in a tree
not three, mine’s only two *

Those two enough to dizzy me

with decisions and revisions
reversed in minute’s time  **

Confused of mind and sure to choose the wrong

Still, decision’s mine alone to make
my consequence to bear

should I choose wrong or listen to the heart
while mind points out the rational

The “should,” the sensible, the sane

Fly off!  Leave me be!
Leave me to my thoughts!

Fly off!  Your scrabbling about muddles me!

Once decision made I falter
fear in later years I’ll wonder

“What if" I’d done the other?

* Wallace Stevens, Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird, stanza II
** T. S. Eliot, The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock, line 48

 ©2020 Lisa Smith Nelson. All Rights Reserved



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