Favorite Poem

"Here I Am" By Roger McGough
page 1046 in Norton

Yes, I just can't get enough of these shape poems."Here I Am" is interesting to me because it reminds me of the motto of the gym where I work out, "What is worse? The pain of hard work, or the pain of regret?". Many people feel that regret is the most painful of all human emotions. In the opinion of McGough, it most certainly is. He lists all the things that he's never done and comments on how dull his life was. Very cynical, but also true. I think that when you're in the moment it's hard to appreciate the oppurtunities that are available to you. It's only after they're gone that you are able to truly know what you had. Cliche, yes, but certainly applicable here.
The shape of the poem was also quite interesting. After analyzing closely and reading the comments of others, I think the poem forms an hour glass. Regret after regret slowly build up to form what we are all working against in the end; time. It's easy for the author to reflect on times gone by now that he is "getting on for seventy".