A Clay Face

I wonder if I would recognize myself.

If everything was what it might have been.

What if I had stayed?
In a place filled with fake people and fake trees.
In a place that takes so much more than it gives.
My pale skin, tanned.

What if I had never set foot on the sand dunes?
They taught me to be in love the world.
They taught me to be alone with my thoughts.
My own self, at my very best, all the time- they told me.

What if I had never meet you all?
You showed me courage.
You joked and I laughed.
My smile, would it be quite as wide?

What if I leaned over the water's surface
and saw a face
that felt familiar
like a dream I once remembered?

What if that face was mine?

I wonder if I would recognize myself.