You Can't Have it all

You Can’t Have it All

By: Kun Hee Yeo

But you can have the sweltering bright sun rays of Panama,

Like thousands of light bulbs all merged as one.

You can have the friendly buzz of mosquitoes

Waking you up at 3 A.M, asking for blood donations.

You can have your neighbor’s small dog, barking at every single

Movement you make. And when it is November,

You can have the infinite pouring of water every day. You can have love,

Even though rejection will occur often, like small little earthquakes,

Happening all around the world every day.

You can have the guitar noises of Slash and incredible singing of Axl Rose,

All in the songs from Guns N’ Roses. You can have hopeless “friends”,

Giving $20 to the cashier just for one box of Marlboro Light.

You can insult anyone out loud freely in Korean,

And them making mysterious faces, showing no clue about what we are talking about.

You can visit the grave of your great grandpa,

Ride 100 miles every year for someone you never knew.

You cannot turn invisible, an ability that everyone wants,

But what were you planning to do with it, anyways?

You can always dream,

Go back to your sweet hometown in a second, get millions of crispy green papers with the face of Benjamin Franklin, jump down from a 63 story building and still live, become the king of the world,

Until the disgraceful beep of the alarm clock waking you up at 6 A.M.

You can see your grandpa at least once every three years,

Not knowing when to say “Good Bye” to him.

You can have great friends,

A friend who always corrects you when you make a grammatical error,

A friend who always accompanies you with basketball,

A friend who beats you in math, just by a single point,

And a friend who is always busy with tennis.

You can live in seven different countries,

The sombreros of the Mexicans, bare footed kiwis, dirty Argentine taxi drivers,

And the unique “Que Xopa” from the Panamanians.

You can have the sweet blended banana smoothie from your aunt, the spicy pork ribs only your mom can make, and the mysterious soups with unknown ingredients from your grandma, which you are forced to eat.

There are the voices of your friends strengthening you in clutch situations; they are always there, no matter what. You can’t have it all,

But there is this.