sometimes
sometimes i wonder
what would have happened
to famous people if their careers
hadn't worked out the way they'd wanted
if they hadn't become famous
what would they be doing now?
would Bruce Springsteen be teaching
guitar and song-writing at a community college
and then playing once or twice a month at
a bar, singing covers and occasionally
adding in one of the songs he'd created
would brad pitt be selling real estate
driving people around the hills of santa monica
talking to them about the time he tried to become
an actor, and how he'd just missed out on that role
with X and Y in that movie Z
would bono own a coffee shop in ireland
showing up early to prepare for the day and
unlocking the door and raising the shutters
would steve young be in finance,
perhaps working as a mortgage broker,
if his father hadn't encouraged him, when
Steve had wanted to quit, to
keep practicing
as someone serves me at a bar
or as i watch a barista in a coffee shop
or as I talk with someone in some occupation
sometimes i wonder what were their dreams,
what were their hopes, and who could they
have been, how famous could they
have been, if fate had only
worked out for them
sometimes i think to myself
that this person right here, right now,
the one delivering my amazon package,
or passing me a coffee, or cooking my meal,
or checking my meter to make sure it isn't leaking,
sometimes i think to myself, in some other alternate
universe, this person is the movie star, the rock star,
the sports star, the one whose dreams
came true
