Author of the article here. I did not know that – thank you for sharing. This makes the poem even better but definitely not the best choice for the article!
I always thought there was a certain coldness to the way he was making decisions, but it all makes much more sense now that I know more about those past experiences. He seems to think it's the result of the working conditions. I have tons of notes and audio recordings which I want to clean up and publish at some point.
Some day ages and ages hence, I made an inconsequential choice, and THAT made all the different.