Almost is Never Enough

how do we say it was almost
good enough

letters in the sand
slowly washing away
like the night as it fled
into morning's new day

is it ever enough
to get almost to the finish line

watching from second place
as the parade passes by,
and you
listen again
to the reasons 
to its ten millionth chime,
and you wonder why

how did we end up like this
after all this time.
when you were the star
of my perpetual dreams

we shared laughter and lingering glances
at maybe

and maybe, that's where we went wrong...