The Forgiver (For Archbishop Desmond Mpilo Tutu) Poem by Babatunde Idowu Ebenezer

Like a spear thrust through a balloon,
You busted my heart,
Like a man seated on a blazing furnace,
You punished my soul,
Yet you want to walk away unforgiven!

How could I ever let you?
If you walked away without my forgiveness,
How could I ever be healed of my pains and sufferings,
That torment my soul during the day and haunt my dreams in the night?
These ghosts that keep me imprisoned in the hell of myself.

If I do not offer you forgiveness like a stranger is offered Palm wine,
An altruistic forgiveness deep from heart and with no strings attached,
How then do I conquer the acid eating my heart away every time I remember you?
Oh come closer and feel the warmth of my embrace and the softness of my lips!
Come let me show you that I no longer bear any fleck of grudge against you!

Yes you offered me a juice of angostura as breakfast,
For lunch you gave me a hundred strokes of thorn canes,
In the night you turned my body to a sordid unworthy gutter,
Where you dump your evil smelling milky water oozing out of your half withered pipe,
Alongside a brutal animal viciousness that burned through my entire body!

But you will never walk away without my forgiveness!
I will open my heart and amidst all the scabs find a little spot,
From which no puss pour like a broken boil,
And on this spot I will forge your forgiveness from the roots of my heart,
Oh do come nearer and let me lay my hand on you in blessing.

Come! Here is redemption for you, take it for your sake and be renewed!
Come! Here is forgiveness for you, take it for my sake and let me live again!
You are forgiven! For deep from my heart I forgive you!
Come let us raise a cup for a new lease of life!
For your sake, for my sake, for the sake of the peace of all, I forgive you!