I have worried about,
felt responsible for,
so many people
over the years -
Now I wonder
if my time, energy and love
ever averted one disaster,
changed the course
of a single life
or made the slightest difference
to the relentless pattern of fate -
I only know I have no regrets
for my foolishness,
if I gave someone a glimmer hope,
a touch or courage
or an hours holiday
from loneliness
