The Cost of Missed Connections

The Price of Procrastination

The thoughts are continuous 

All the time, they are coming 

Some are life-changing

earth-shattering

windows-rattling

trains of thought 

Others are innocuous 

just time-fillers

Some fly by

Some linger 

just long enough 

to become 

something more 

And sometimes we wait—

And the thought 

slips from our minds 

because we dilly dally 

It leaves the image

of what we missed 

as a shadow out of sorts 

a reminder 

a nagging shape 

of something missed. 

The cost of missed connections 

The price of procrastination 

As with most procrastinating 

there is no real reason

no compelling excuse 

We simply allowed 

the muse to escape 

undocumented 

It’s late 

It’s early 

I’m busy 

I’m trying to sleep 

All compelling deterrents 

Still— 

The shadow mocks 

the mind seeks for it 

that missed connection

Perhaps it was a word 

or a hidden connection 

There it was before me 

two ideas 

suddenly intricately woven—

and then

gone 

Elusive 

skittering away 

Damn

I’m old 

Thoughts don’t stay 

Whatever 

It was there

begging for recognition 

begging for witness—

But 

I was too hurried to honor it 

Until it was gone 

Then the agony 

It’s like chasing butterflies 

Perhaps this is the agony—

believing the words belonged to me 

when I was only ever 

their conduit 

The muse is not obligated 

to wait for us 

We are servants to the muse—

not the other way around 

Now—

I have written the idea 

captured the basics 

Now go away 

Let me sleep 

Let me work 

In peace 

© Ron Simpson Jr. 

May 6, 2026