Poem: If Only It Were Still Early

If Only It Were Still Early

It grew and became
and nothing was done
to be there or involved,
though it was clear
it was coming to be,
would be, was important.
Still: it was not easy
to be a part, to choose.
There were requirements,
were needs to be met
and rules and protocols.
It was not a simple thing
and not cheap, not accessible
either.  And now,
it is this way
and it is there 
and that is not
the same as here,
and it would be good
to have been there already,
to have begun long ago.
But that cannot be now
and the choices 
are not the same,
are not as good
as they might have been,
and mean more and less at once.
It is still early, some will say,
but they mean
on a time scale
that is not this life.

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