If I Knew Then What I Know Now

If I Knew Then What I know Now
By Larry R. Linville

We make a silly statement to cover our mistakes.
We don’t think what it really means.
It seems to be an excuse to ease our guilt
To lessen the attitudes other may have.
If I knew then what I know now…..

We’d be slow learners if this isn’t true.
We’d not have the best knowledge at hand
And purposely choose to ignore it.
That’s not the way our best nature works.
If I knew then what I know now…..

This statement seems to say I’ve arrived
That I finally have all there is.
What if what I know today is not the best choice
And tomorrow I’ll learn something that changes it all.
If I knew then what I’ll know tomorrow…..

As I age and my memory has lapses and such.
When I try to recall a friend’s name.
When a grandchild asks about things in the past
Or a formula I once knew by heart.
I turn that silly saying around and say
If I knew now what I knew then…..

Is knowledge the sole asset in life?
Is that all it takes to decide?
Or could, perhaps, my feelings count too?
Does my gut feeling lead me astray.
If I felt then like I feel now…..

Maybe compassion contributes as much
To the choices that I daily make.
How it touches the lives all about
Where happiness results from what I have done.
If I cared then like I care now……

Perhaps the most valuable thing that I use
Is the faith that I’ve nurtured through grace.
It was smaller and less helpful back then
But now has given me courage to act.
If I had the faith then that I have now…..

© Copyright 2007 Larry Linville (UN: larrylinville at Writing.Com).
All rights reserved. Larry Linville has granted Writing.Com, its affiliates and syndicates non-exclusive rights to display this work