Machine to Correct Past Mistakes

By Parvati Uppala

I spotted a time machine, rusty, worn with regrets

I entered into its glow to see what destiny begets

It hoisted no keys but lived on confessions instead 

It hummed “Input mistakes, I’ll spin kind acts in their stead”

My first stop was on the day I fractured someone’s heart

My words sharp as glass, cut deep and tore them apart

Into the machine I fed, caught words by the tail and snapped

They got sugarcoated into sweet words, their face never cracked

My second stop was on the day I decided to flee

I turned away from my parents when they needed me

Once I put this to machine, I wrote a card of huge magnitude

And I handed them the card, expressing my gratitude

My third stop was on the day when I ruined someone’s life

I lied through my teeth which pierced their trust like a knife

I inputted this into machine, the lie concocted into sooth

Silence tasted like honesty, enough to win trust back with truth

My last stop was on the day I had failed

Not from ignorance but from fear that prevailed

I cast it in the machine, fear reborn as courage

Doors to success opened, my name gleamed like vintage

As I kept feeding the machine, it swallowed mistakes

The time intervened, cautioning the course it takes 

Warned that, I will be the last mistake to be erased

Since errors are time’s treasures, cannot be displaced

By Parvati Uppala