Repentance

“Nothing erases the past. There is repentance, there is atonement, and there is forgiveness. That is all, but that is enough.”
― Ted Chiang, The Merchant and the Alchemist’s Gate

I was angry, I was rude

I hurled some scathing comments;

Now I am left alone to brood

My soul, now guilt torments..

Hurtful words escaped my lips

Before conscious thought could restrain

How I wish those Freudian slips

Within the realm of my mind could remain!

Insults are like arrows once shot

To injure, they are destined

No apology can then blot

The stain they leave behind.

I repent, and writhe in pain

Pure forgiveness I seek

My suffering seems to be in vain

Prospects of it are bleak.

**

Years had passed, time had flown

The insult an incident forgotten

Since then, though, insomnia I’d known

Guilt so heavy, making me feel rotten.

And just as I thought to my grave

Without forgiveness I was headed,

God’s will intervened, a sinner to save

With forgiveness I was rewarded.