What If?

What if I had
Been born in Somalia
Or with Cerebral Palsy?
What if my parents had
Stayed together,
Been wealthy
Or were dolphins?
I may wonder forever
But am destined
To never know
What if.

What if circles had corners
And bubbles never burst
Or if there were plentiful water
And no one knew thirst?
What if newborns
Were sentient
And elders respected?
That's a lot of what-ifs
On which we've reflected.

What if people with smaller egos
Became politicians,
Academicians
Or captains
Of industry?
What if
Fabric never would crease
Or if the human
Population
Ceased to increase?
In two monosyllabic
Words
A plethora of unanswerables
Is strikingly
Absurd.

What if
The Golden Rule prevailed
And warfare was no more?
Love, hugs and smiles
Replaced righteously
pilled gore
And we would n'er need
To worry
About what was in store;
Thoughts of wonder
That the reality of life
More often than not
Shreds asunder.

What if everything
We believed
Turned out to
Be a lie?
Laughter would not repair
The damage
And neither would
An infant's cry.
We would go to our graves
Wondering why
What we thought it was
Was not what it is.

What it is
Is what it is,
Lest one decides to change it.
What if a try
Could alter
Earth, sea or sky?
How many among us
Would be willing
To work hard enough
And assume the
Risks involved
To arrange it?

To answer a What If
Is akin to deciphering
A hieroglyph;
From behind life's
Unintentionally
But inevitably
Draped curtain
It is never really possible
To be certain.