If I Had Listened Poem by Randy McClave

If I had listened to my brothers
If I had listened to my dad,
I don't think that I would be so depressed
And not so easily hurt, and mad.

If I had listened to my friends
If I had listened to their warnings in stories and song,
I would not had written this poem
As they have never steered me wrong.

If I had listened to my guidance counselor
if I had listen to my preacher,
I would had went off to college
And I would had come back a Doctor, or a Teacher.

If I had listened to my past flames
If I had listened to my ex-wives,
They are the ones that I should have listened to
Only they can create, and change lives.

If I had listen to my brain
If my heart wasn't so easy to manipulate and entice,
if I had looked at the anguish that surrounds me
If I had taken the philosophers advice.

If I had listened to that old monk
As he smiled and laughed with his many pearls,
If I had only listened and believed them all
If only, I had stayed afraid of girls.

Randy L. McClave