300,000,000 and counting by Nick Cooke

if i had known

if i had only known

that when i met you

you were already in

the final decade

and had only

three hundred million seconds

before the noose

 

i would have filled those

few million we shared

with something other than

exposing your flaws

and calling you a child

who refused the adult state

like i was the nation’s

biggest grownup

 

if i had realised

if i had only guessed

that it was no cry for help

no throwing of the toys

but a grave marker

at my feet as we walked

and there’s another one

but i never saw it

 

i’d have done what

it took no matter what you needed

beyond the scream of duty

just as now i’d do anything

to jam my boot in time’s door

and claw another chance

to haul you out

of wherever you were