What is the main conflict in Climbing by Lucille Clifton?

"Climbing" is the first original poem in Lucille Clifton's collection The Book of Light, published by Copper Canyon Press, in 1993. It is in a section titled "Reflection," which comes directly after a found poem, "Light." In a lyric of twelve short lines, Clifton uses simple, accessible language to imagine what it would be like to be sixty years old. The speaker imagines herself in the future and uses that image to make statements to herself about what might have been different in her life. The poem's tone, however, is not one of despair but rather of achievement. The speaker doesn't really wish she had made other choices; rather, she seems proud of the decisions she has made and acknowledges the struggle ahead as she ages. Themes that the poem addresses include the relationship between ageing and desire, time and regret, and the ways in which self-image changes as human beings age. Clifton was in her midfifties when she wrote the poem, and there is much autobiographical material in it.