fret

easiest thing; to regret
impossible not to fret
a wave of worry
washes over me
for things i cannot change
in places far away
and i struggle to remain
centered through the day

if i let my thoughts roam free
i just want to storm and rage
at life's crude indignities
as our bodies break and age
betrayed by flesh or family
or the world's indifference
by lovers' cruel intransigence
by blind and blatant ignorance

yet fretting gets me nothing
but an ulcer and a migraine
so i try to think on happy things
and from worrying refrain
especially when the answer
to my "WHY?!"
is "just because"
it often doesn't work
but occasionally, it does