I got to thinking about some negative, emotional things, recently. I've seen some films about the AIDS crisis in the 80's, Ronald Reagan's apathetic and callous response to it, and the lives it devastated. I can't really know what it was like to have been a gay man back then, so it's pretty superficial of me to see echoes of those emotions in myself. This poem rose out of that realization. There is pain and regret but, in the end, you -in the words of one of my favorite characters from "LOST"- "give it five seconds ...that's it... and, then, you take charge again." That's what regret is like, I think. And although I don't always take the high road, I like to think that this bit of poetry highlights the attitude I should have.