n6h6.net

To a Friend I Hurt Long Past, Despite the Greater Good

(Inspired by Robert Burns' "To a Mouse" and "To a Louse")

Like a twig snapped in the wood,
I crossed a line I never should,
I forgot myself and tarnished good,
I must confess it,
you tell me it was for the better,
and not to stress it.

But how might I forgive my tongue,
the traitor to the song I sung!
Betrayed my topmost moral rung,
and left it broken.
Though you forgive it remains with me,
a painful token.

Harsher words I have not uttered,
not to a friend I've ever muttered,
to anyone my heart had fluttered,
words so frigid,
cold as steel cast as a sword,
sharp and rigid...

If I had my druthers surely,
I would change that day so purely,
smite me down in ugly fury,
undo the knot,
the tangled strings of twisted fate,
unstir the pot...