Regrets 1967 Poem by Terry Collett

Regrets
O those are
useless things
Nima said
have no value
to the now
of our being.

Benny listened
but said nothing
as they walked along
the Embankment
by the Thames.

What can you
do with regrets?
nothing they sit on
your conscience
if you have one
and haunt you.

They sat on a bench
and lit up cigarettes.

Do you regret
meeting me?
she said
gazing at Benny.

No never
said I did
he said.

So why regret
anything?
all things happen
so that is it
she went on
puffing out smoke
now and then
her words smoke
engulfed.

Had a bad day
at the hospital?
he asked
looking at
the Houses of Parliament
over the River.

Too true I have
she said
too bloody true
had enough of them
all the nurses
fecking quacks
trick-cyclists.

She sighed
and puffed on
her cigarette.

What happened?
he asked.

Said I couldn't
have a weekend pass
because my mother
damn her
middle-class morals
said I might zap
some drugs or sleep
with some druggy
although she knows
I am with you
I've told
the bitch that.

Benny looked
at her.

She has your
best interests
at heart
he said.

Nima gazed at him
whose side are you on?

No one's side
just saying
she may have
he said.

They were silent
for a few minutes
she musing on
the hospital
and the enforced stay
statemented because
of the drugs
and mental instability.

He wondering
if the Ornette Coleman
Jazz LP he'd bought
earlier on was as good
as he had read.

Their conversation
and dried up
like something dead.