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Forgiveness: A Spoken Word Poem

Forgiveness: A Spoken Word Poem

Last updated on: January 18, 2016 at 10:30 am by Monique Ocampo

Forgiveness: A Spoken Word Poem 2016-01-15T10:43:37-05:00 Monique Ocampo

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Forgive and forget

That’s how it’s supposed to work, right?

I’m supposed to wish the best for those I hate,

give love until it hurts to those who caused the hurt.

Forgiveness does not come easily.

It’s so much easier to plot revenge

to turn the people — the bullies — into monsters

Soulless and heartless

Chaotic and uncaring

What nobody tells you

is that forgiveness ia process.

It’s not something that comes overnight

It’s more like drinking water

after years, lifetimes, from feasting on poison

You’ve become so used to tasting the toxicity of revenge

that forgiveness, by contrast,

is sickeningly sweet

It’s like putting together a thousand-tile jigsaw puzzle

or the pieces of a shattered mirror

never knowing if the picture will ever be complete

Until one day you finally see another reflection

The ghosts of your past are in the corner of your eye

But they’re haunting someone else

All of a sudden, you realize that you’re strong enough to chase them away

Where did this strength and power come from?

How did you get out of the woods?

How did you find the way out of the labyrinth?

Forgiveness is the key.

Like a seed, forgiveness grows unseen

Taking root in our hearts until the armor of our hate is shattered

Until our resentment and revenge fantasies evanesce like a storm cloud

We find ourselves free-falling

Surprised at what we thought was unimaginable

Then, through love, we are given wings to fly

because through forgiveness, we set ourselves free

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