Buyer Regrets – A Poem

I hesitate to make a list of all the countless deals I’ve missed;

Bonanzas that were in my grip, I watched them through my fingers slip;

The windfalls that I could have bought were lost because I over-thought;

I thought of this. I thought of that. While on my hands, I just sat.

And while I thought of things twice, another bought them at the price.

It seems I always hesitate, then make my mind up much too late.

A very caution person am I. And that is why I never buy.

How Palm Beach and Martin Counties grew,

Collier and Orange Counties, too.

While others bought and realized their charms

and welcomed deals with open arms.

A corner here, ten acres there,

Compounding values year by year.

I chose to think, and as I thought,

They bought the deals I should have bought.

When condominiums rose straight into the sky,

The prices I felt were much too high.

I wouldn’t even make a bid,

But others did, Yes, others did.

My sixth sense warned me to sit still

and so my mattress with money I did not fill.

A very prudent person am I

and that is why I never buy.

Last night I had a fearful dream.

I know I wakened with a scream.

Donald Trump approached me by my bed,

A deal he had for me instead.

He’d sell me property at a tenth of its cost,

But my voice, my voice I had lost.

I tried and tried but could not speak

and so Mr. Trump, he did retreat.

At times a teardrop drowns my eye

for deals I had but did not buy.

And now my life’s sad words I pen –

If only I would have invested then.

Jim Cioffi, Esq.
Inspired by the poem published in Farm and Land Magazine
October 1917