On Regret

No regrets, they say,
Live with no regrets.
For regret is that traitor which feeds on your guilt
And grows exponentially, until
You can no longer come to terms with -
A former version of yourself?
Your current self?

You will not know.

Yet those who do live with regrets,
While they may have questions, forever unanswered,
Strive harder. Run faster.
Mean the things they say more often.

And still they fall, and even worse, fail,
All because of that nagging sensation
Within them that says -

Things could have been different.

No regrets, they say,
And yet we say nothing of those
Who do regret a thing or two.
They seem to be nothing but our bane,
That which we ought to disown or acknowledge
as existent.

Life offers different ways
for us to learn - regret is but one of them.
Should we not, then, take it in
And accept it as it is -

A learning experience,
and not a source of shame?