Regrets — Summary

Hey Hey you You I want You to look at me Look me in the eyes And I want you to vow strong as words under churchbells that you will never regret this Promise me that this will not become just another maybe Another if only Another if I had been better And that next time you put a knife to your wrist This will not be on the list of cuts to make because You weren’t good enough Or fast enough Or strong enough Swear to me on every one of those cuts Those days left behind to rust And people forgotten in the bloody dust That you will always remember me as I am Not as you can see me dying Lying in your arms To be forgotten by sands of time Buried under just another one of those scars Like all the lines drawn in the sand by all the scars before For if all that’s left are regrets Then what’s the point of birth You might as well have died before your fingers ever touched the Earth And let me tell you something, love, that’s not allowed I don’t care if it was you’re fault All I care is that years ago your steps came to a halt for no other reason than to hold me You took the time to scold me I care that night after night you told me everything whether I wanted to hear it or not And that you never forgot to pick up the pieces behind you and put them back together I care that you smiled for no better reason than it would make me smile back And when I was drifting miles high you cradled me in the sky With nothing but will power And when I hit the ground so hard every part of me shattered into dust you tossed me back into the sky so even then I could fly Whatever you did, I promise it was good enough I promise you were strong enough I promise you were fast enough And I promise that every new scar is the only thing to cancel out how much I love you Look at me baby Look and tell me you will never regret me Promise me only that And everything you did was good enough and strong enough and fast enough Just as long as I don’t become just another regret Buried under just another scar We are so much more than that Aren’t we?

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The speaker is pleading with someone they love who self-harms and feels like a failure. Speaking directly to this person, they ask for a promise: that when the urge to cut returns, the speaker will not become one more regret, one more "if only" lost beneath the scars. The speaker insists the person was always good enough, strong enough and fast enough, and backs this up with memories of being held, scolded, listened to and even thrown back into the sky when they fell. Those images suggest the loved one has been a source of rescue and support.

The mood is raw, urgent and tender. The speaker's voice moves between desperate and fiercely loving, with repeated "I promise" lines that sound like a vow. The poem ends on a quiet, uncertain question, "Aren't we?", which shows how much the speaker fears the answer and how badly they want to be believed.

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