Two Way Mirror

Pictures of women you've loved,
their boyfriends, fiancées, husbands,
and children posing in their happy homes

you realize how the years have passed
slowly enough for them to find partners
and bear children.

Expected lives of normalcy and tranquility,
easy lives marred by the uneasy nature of Life.
The world is filled with them.

You begin to wish it were you.
That you were their boyfriend or husband.
That you were holding your first newborn.

You wonder what it is you hold on to.
What of yours has been so valuable
to forsake that world of experience?

Is it the life you seek?
You don't know-
can't know.

So many happy lives
all staring back-
wondering how you've been.