Passport

Sometimes when I look at you
I imagine all the what-might-have-beens
and wonder what would have happened
if I decided to quit and just stay.

How life would have been simpler
yet maybe slightly complicated
the familiar breeze and billows
if I decided to quit and just stay.

The wildflowers and sea of clouds
all the beauty that surrounds me
a different mountain peak and sea
if I decided to quit and just stay.

The tweets that welcome me
each day with applause and appreciation
would have come from faces of another design
if I decided to quit and just stay.

Passions have died and along the way
a handful was smothered by the fog
perhaps they have fizzled or scorched
if I decided to quit and just stay.

But I’ve made the decision in the rickety and jam-packed bus
that there was something beyond
and that stamps were the only way
so I didn’t quit and I left

And as the clouds continue to change
and as I chase them so endlessly
I wail in fiery gratitude
because I decided to not quit and leave.