Forgiveness

2025, poetry

I find that I confuse forgiveness for penance.

When I crave forgiveness,

I imagine the taste of iron,

I imagine praying hands,

clasped too tight,

And I feel the hollow around the pain that is not there.

Forgiveness is a sharp knife.

But,

When i feel forgiven,

It is the taste of strawberry toothpaste,

It is the brush undoing knots in my hair,

Soft and careful,

And the absence of pain does not strike me as a mistake.

Forgiveness is a gentle hand.