DubDub (& Rhuby), you both make excellent points. I would like to clarify that I do celebrate the world I live in, and appreciate the glimpses I get into others' worlds--of which this board provides a wonderful one. And I have long accepted the fact that each choice I make sends me on an irrevocable path, for the better or for the worse. I did not mean to give the impression that most of my time is spent wailing and moaning over what cannot be. But there is a small part of me that surfaces occasionally, crying, "If only...".

Now...Helen, thank you so much for your post! It was wonderful to me, to learn another way to view this poem (and thank you Keiva, for this thread, by the way)--I nearly always tend to view things in a concrete way, at least at first; probably due to my habit of hurrying through to get to "the point". I often do not think about the process being the point--a pretty immature view, I do know. I love your image of yourself as a polished stone, having been through the rough-and-tumble before achieving this state. Reminds me of the purification/refining by fire discussion. I wish I had a similar self-image. I have no idea of where I'd put myself in comparison--probably still undiscovered, let alone polished.