Hello, mirror

So glad to see you, my friend

It's been a while

Staring at the empty page before me

All the years of wreckage running through my head

Patterns of my life I thought adorned me

Revealing hurtful shame and deep lament

Overwhelming sorrow now absorbs me

As the pen begins to trace my darkest past

Signs throughout my life that should have warned me

Of all the wrongs I've done for which I must repent

I once thought it better to regret

Things that I have done than haven't

Sometimes you've got to be wrong

And learn the hard way

And sometimes you've got to be strong

When you think it's too late

Staring at the finished page before me

All the damage now so clear and evident

Thinking 'bout the dreaded task in store for me

A bitter fear at the thought of my amends

Hoping that the step will help restore me

To face my past and ask for forgiveness

Cleaning up my dirty side of this unswept street

Could this be the beginning of the end?

I once thought it better to regret

Things that I have done than haven't

Sometimes you've got to be wrong

And learn the hard way

And just when you're through hanging on

You're saved

Until that moment, I'd never felt like I'd failed at anything

And I felt like I failed her

And I failed myself, and I failed my children

I want to thank you for helping me to see my own selfishness

And to tell you how regretful I am it has hurt you

I'm sorry I didn't visit you in the hospital, grandpa

I'm here to confess with you that what I did was wrong

I'm sorry that I didn't come to your funeral

I don't know if I was selfish or I just was too scared to face it

It's one of the biggest regrets of my life

I really regret not being able to see my friend Andy

One of my best friends, who's the godfather of my daughter

He asked me to sing or play something at his wedding

And I turned it down because I was busy

I guess, too much of a chickenshit to do it

I wish I could change it

And I feel sorry for that, because it was a very, very close friend of mine

So, I wanted to apologize to anyone

That I've upset or offended by my words

I'm sorry for what I did back then

I was a different person

I really was and I'm so sorry

And that's kind of arrogant, isn't it?

I guess I'm simply sorry for being me and not you

I wish it wouldn't have happened, but it did

And I'm sorry, will you forgive me?

It still haunts me

If we are painstaking about this phase of our development

We will be amazed before we are halfway through

We are going to know a new freedom and a new happiness

We will not regret the past nor wish to shut the door on it

We will comprehend the word serenity and we will know peace

No matter how far down the scale we have gone

We will see how our experience can benefit others

That feeling of uselessness and self-pity will disappear

We will lose interest in selfish things

And gain interest in our fellows

Self-seeking will slip away

Our whole attitude and outlook upon life will change

Fear of people and of economic insecurity will leave us

We will intuitively know how to handle situations which used to baffle us

We will suddenly realize that God is doing for us

What we could not do for ourselves

Are these extravagant promises, we think not

They have been fulfilled amongst others

Sometimes quickly, sometimes slowly

We will always be true to our principles

You're only as sick as your secrets

But the truth shall set you free

The truth is the truth

And so all you can do is live with it