Regret is Bitter to Swallow by Kristin Thomas - 1st Place

First Place

Regret is Bitter to Swallow

by Kristin Thomas

I never meant for this to happen.

But life is full of good intentions

Gone bad, and maybe I should have anticipated

The unexpected.

So archive me in your records—

Another failed attempt,

Another fulfilled prophecy;

Reduce me to another statistic.

But know this:

Numbers don’t have heartbeats,

And blood still courses through these veins.

Photo by Brandan Roberts