A Gardener Reflects Upon Regret

- jan-u-wine
you wear
your
regret
like a crown.
 
it binds
your brow - -
bitter circlet
of lost
chance
and desire.
 
like a king
in his pride,
you  
become
insistent
upon it.
 
you hold to it
as if it
were the last
bit of light
left in the world....
 
you fold it about
yourself,
a blanket,
soft,
that yet
presses you
to night.
 
why?
 
tell me only:
 
why?
 
tell me what more
you could have done,
should have done.
 
No,
you did not leave
your body there....
 
you left
more.
 
We
left more.
 
We came away
with more.
 
We left naught
that mattered
and came away
with all
that does.
 
Look about you:
 
The World rejoices.
 
Even,
if you have ears to hear,
even
the very rock
crys out
in joy.
 
Will you not let
the  song
running
like vein'd Light
touch
the fear which holds
your heart?
 
Will you not
walk
back,
along beside me,
now that the Road
is just
a road
and Darkness,
only the wanting of the Sun
and evil,
a thing
we knew yesterday
but need not fear today.
 
you never
asked me
to walk forward
with you.
 
But I
will ask you
now:
 
walk forward
 
into life
 
with me.
 
Please.
 
I never
asked
for aught
for myself.
 
And
I do not,
now.
 
I ask only
for you.
 
Last night,
the green voice
of the Sea
whispered in my dreams.
 
It spoke of you.
 
It spoke
of regret.