Inherited Guilt Poem by Mary Champion

Can you name this unforgivable sin-
the soul-stain that will not be washed away -
specify the evil you are purging
so ruthlessly and uselessly each day?
Why do you deserve your outcast status?
What crime have you committed - do you know?
Can you analyse this heavy weight as
it overhangs your heart where e'er you go?
What transgression warrants such a beating?
What iniquitous offence has brought you here?
What compels the ritual repeating
with water that refuses to run clear?

To understand the reason you are cursed -
allow the dam of memory to burst.