Poems (Kennedy)/Forgiveness
For works with similar titles, see Forgiveness.
FORGIVENESS
I SAY to you: Forgive your friend, if so he drops Into your heart a stinging word. He will be sorry by and by And all his higher nature stirred To live more purely when he sees You put aside the thing you heard.
And yet again: Forgive your enemy; he wounds With malice, hoping that the dart May rankle deep and fester sore. You shame him by the better part Of unrequited hate, and rob Of all its after-lust the venomed dart.
Your friend and foe— Forgive these two the seventy By seven times that love decreed, For each forgiveness lifts you up (From taint of sordid passions freed) To heights of true nobility, Where Truth fulfils the spirit's need.
But mark you this: One thing you shall not e'er forgive The while the folding years descend, And that is YOUR OWN SELF, if so You wrong a foe or wound a friend; For no soul that condones its fault Comes white and unscarred to the end.