Talking to Myself 30 Years Ago….

If the chance I had to speak to myself then,

I think I would tell him the mistakes he will make,

And try to get him to not make them, for both our sake,

But knowing myself now & then, I know for a fact, I would not take,

Any advice from some old guy, claiming to be me,

Would think he was high on something & wish I had some too.

I would be 19, thirty years ago, doing things that I would never tell,

Not even now will I tell what I did then,

As no one would want to know me now, for the things I did then,

Mostly not very nice things, as I guess you could understand,

So we won’t go into that right now, off hand.

I would tell “me” to be more understanding of mom and dad,

Treat them like you would yourself, not like you are, bad,

Be more forgiving of your own and others shortcomings,

Treat your family and friends like you really do love them, so sad,

Try to stop yourself from the telling of tales, don’t lie,

Though it would make me, then, quite mad.

Ed would tell young Ed, to express those feelings,

He had within,

Tell those you love, that is the way you do feel,

Tell those that make you mad, just, again, what you feel,

And when you make up your mind, regards religion,

Do it the way you should, go to the church and kneel,

Explain to the Almighty, that you are experiencing doubt,

Tell Him that you want to try other roads, but leave yourself that out,

To return to the fold,

Without feeling like, just cause your old,

You want to feel forgiven in case you die,

And really do get to boldly go where you never thought, it could be nigh.

Ed, you really need to get your act together,

You are heading in the wrong direction,

Believe me when here I say,

If you keep going in this direction,

You will end up with a loss you will find extremely hard to endure.

No, Ed it won’t be tomorrow,

Or anytime really soon,

But believe me, if you stay on this track,

You will find yourself derailed,

For this you have a definite knack,

While it isn’t something you will want,

Please, Ed, change yourself, now,

Before it’s too late,

Please don’t wait…

So many other things I would say,

But here and now,

I’ve not the time or the ambition,

Suffice it to say, change that one thing you do,

You and I both know what that is,

And we will feel, both of us,

Almost to the point of being totally new…

It won’t be easy giving up that, which you know,

But for now, it will be best,

Oh how much do I personally know!

I wish you luck and peace and hope that you can,

Change your life for the better,

As I was unable to do so till I got into the can…

                                                                   (ed)