The Gates

There is the gutted experience 
of a hollow ache combining
the heart and solar plexus into one,
awful and breathless.
The shock of being too late, of
missing what only one chance could give,
but distraction and misplaced priorities
ducked from view. After watching the liner
crest the wave without a passenger
while staring at an unused ticket, 
if-only, if-only echoing monotonously
in the chamber