The previous post was very strong in its direction and analysis. One of the things that Sarton has said is that she sees herself "as a bridge" between the heterosexual and the homosexual worlds.  In this light, her poem might be an attempt to bring out the compassion needed to fully develop a plan of how to help those with the disease.  At the time of her writing the poem, the fear and paranoia of AIDS and those who had contracted it caused the victims to be demonized and shunned.  Sarton's belief that her bridge as both artist and thinker drove her to compose a poem that evokes the love and genuine authenticity required in understanding a brutal disease, as well as the pain endured in seeing people one loves die of it.