Forgiveness

Man hath no part with forgiveness.
Beside the forgiveness of God, man's
Forgiveness be a puny thing. To forgive-
To undo action with a patch of love!
Yet the day would be a tattered wench-
Were it not for the patchin'.
To forgive be like unto singing to
A harp of discord.
Forgiveness be not a beauteous thing,
For it be the flesh of infidelity.
Even He in His mercy spake "Forgive them,"
And in so doing-laid bare their iniquities.
Forgiveness be such a comfortable mantle;
Yea smug, and stitched of self.
A lout feeleth as a king wrapped in it.
To lay thine arms down, to acknowledge defeat!
To succumb, yet to smile forgiveness,
When thy bosom aches of injustice-
This is not justice! E'en the God himself
Is just and dealeth not a whit or jottle
O'er the balancing of thy goods.
Forgive them in forgetting!
This is the laying down of arms.
Yet once thou hast been defiled by injustice-
Let the sword lie unsheathed.