I thought in those final moments <br /> <br />if I had studied harder and learned <br />all the intricate declensions of Latin <br />if my parents had acquired the wealth <br />to send me to a proper university <br />if my grandparents had left <br />the old country in time <br />if my inclination to speak <br />up in resentment and bile <br />had been restrained <br />perhaps this dismal death <br />on a distant battlefield <br />might have been avoided <br /> <br />but then I never would <br />have become Achilles<br /><br />Michael Pruchnicki<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/if-life-were-so-simple/
