Forgiveness at the Grave

I stood before your grave,

fresh earth still raw where they laid you down,

years of anger heavy in my chest,

memories sharp as broken glass!

──⊱❉⊰ ──

You were gone now, finally gone,

no more chances to make things right,

no more apologies you never offered,

no more explanations that would never come!

──⊱❉⊰ ──

I thought I would feel relief,

thought your death would set me free,

thought the burden would lift itself,

yet here it remained, crushing as ever!

──⊱❉⊰ ──

All those years of pain between us,

all those words that cut so deep,

all those moments when you failed me,

stood there with me at your grave!

──⊱❉⊰ ──

What do we do with unfinished business?

How do we heal what cannot be mended?

How do we release what we have held so long,

when the other person can no longer hear?

──⊱❉⊰ ──

I stood there wrestling with ghosts,

with rage and grief tangled together,

with love and hate existing side by side,

with the terrible truth that you were human and flawed!

──⊱❉⊰ ──

Then something shifted within me,

some burden I chose to put down,

some chain I decided to break,

some gift I gave myself, regardless of whether you deserved it!

──⊱❉⊰ ──

As I turned to walk away,

leaving you there beneath that dirt,

three words rose up unbidden,

fell from my lips like prayer,

──⊱❉⊰ ──

"I forgive you."