The Restless Mind

In that but dimly understood
twilight time between sleep
and awakening consciousness
memory probes for those
times-past concerns that 
seem to hover deep within.
Recalling events and reactions,
regret and mourning, and 
above all, the pensive what-ifs 
of possibilities that a restless
mind still engaged with sleep
conjures from the interior
of an unwilling return to
hapless guilt in consideration
of failed alternatives. When,
in full realization of retrospect
there are no alternatives.