Unforgiven Poem by MacGregor Tagliaferro

Forgive has seven letters
Two syllables, one meaning
Comes from an Old English word
Literally; from to give
Cannot rhyme it except for
near rhymes which he does not count
Accent second syllable,
if you're going to say it
But it's hard for him to say
When taught from an early age,
not to forgive or forget,
It is a hard thing to do

Raised by one of the masters
The queen of unforgiveness
Retribution her mantra
She said vengeance was a dish
best served anyway you can
Watched her exact her revenge
on her friends and family
for slights real and imagined
Witnessed the sharp verbal knife
slipped in and twisted, sometimes
the victim none the wiser
Her list of those she never
forgave was a lengthy one
It started with her mother
For dyin' the way she did
And included her father
For leavin' the way he did
Her mother's brother and wife,
who adopted her, for what
was done and what was not done
Her brother, for what he did
Her husband, for not bein'
what she wanted him to be
The list would even one day
include the son she taught well
And true to his upbringing,
he would learn to include her
among his unforgiven



He went out into the world
carryin' all that baggage
and had torrid love affairs
with some spectacularly
flawed and beautiful women
Of course these relationships
ended not well every time,
with him packin' his books,
his clothes, his unforgiveness
and movin' on down the road
Sowin' his pain and sorrow,
Reapin' his wrath and revenge,
Cultivatin' his grudges,
and yes, endin' up alone
For that is the price he paid
to live the life he chose, to
follow the path and become,
one of the unforgiven

Then one day, he came to know
that which the one he learned from
had not the capacity,
nor the will, nor way to know;
That in order to forgive,
he must first forgive himself
But he will not allow that
So he continues to be,
among the unforgiven
Are you unforgiven too?

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