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POETRY | CATHARSIS | FORGIVENESS
How About Forgiving Myself?
Free Verse
When I hear people chatting about forgiving others,
I contemplate for hours about how many people to forgive.
How many?
People who’ve hurt me by parting with me?
Hurt as in… it feels like… you’ve been
skinned alive without warning…
Someone’s far off.
Closer home, should I let off
my mother for leaving me?
but who am I to question destinies?
and how should I cage my raging emotions?
They say: “Sudden ailments, with their appendages,
spread faster than our thoughts. People leave. Its fate.”
So, should I be in understanding of this,
despite fate not caring for what I want?
Oh! am I divesting again against destiny?
I hope it forgives me for being so blunt.
I hope it knows I’m being modest, though
I have a right to throw up my thoughts.
Then, how about forgiving that night
of despair that stayed a little long?
… that pitiless rain, those lashing winds,
the muddy sky, the lost moon, the aught stars,
tranquility of trees, teary and cowardly leaves,
a dawn that still dawned, birds singing and flying,
a fresh earth’s intense crevices in wait,
a night that returned in the same carriage,
the depth of a hush that set in again …
How about forgiving my piercing pain/silent sobs,
my destroyed dreams and upset universe,
my bare breathing and still stupors?
How about forgiving my greatest guilt?
How about embracing light after darkness?
How about embracing reverence after scorn?
How about forgiving myself?
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© A.H. Mehr — 2024
With thanks to Chrysa and Team for publishing my poem.