Knocks But Once

What was once a brand new hope,
Now is memory.
The mindless feel of looking forwards,
A lost opportunity.

The light of life shines bright and fast,
But quickly starts to fade.
Looking back among the shadows
Of choices never made.

Opportunity knocks but once,
And then is gone again.
The chances reach you few and seldom,
Before starting to wane.

All the lost and ignored paths,
All the forgotten roads.
All the burdens of the past,
All the carried loads.

There is no way to change the past,
We cannot change those ways
In which we used to live our lives
In the lost opportunity days.

The life we lead now is held back
By how it once was lived.
We deal with things as we find them,
While thinking of what we did.

Ancient hopes now sealed off
Are locked, gone evermore.
Take those choices while you may
Before you close their door.