Absolution Poem by Derek Pape

You cannot seek absolution from the dead.
Perhaps you knew she would not forgive you.
So it is easier to cry on her grave and play the martyr.
Than to own up to the words that should have been said,
But where never spoken.
You’re acting in a bad one act play and you never had the integrity to pull it off.
You’re spouting Shakespeare but the tone in your voice and lack of presence makes you look like Vaudeville.
All this energy put into trying to be something your not.
And all the while all you had to be was yourself.
Is the face in the mirror so bad?
Are the demons real?
Or did you create them for effect.
You love the drama.
The world is much to grey for your taste.
Does the prospect of a moment of peace really seem that bad?
Have you ever given a thought to the slighted souls left in your wake?
Perhaps you thought them of little or no consequence.
Perhaps you lacked the capacity to really care.
Then again in the end when it is all said and done.
And we are all gone.
There will still be you.