Illustration: Quentin Blake/Puffin

“Look at what you has done. And there be no forgiveness.”  (From Roald Dahl’s “The BFG”)

A WORLD OF NO FORGIVENESS

This story begins
not with, “Once upon a time,”
but with, “At no time.”

At no time has there
ever existed a world
of no forgiveness.

We could not go on
without mercy and pardon
for one another,

from one another,
and, yes, also for ourselves.
For our Creator

has built forgiveness
into the very fabric
of our humanness.

How deeply ingrained
is our need for forgiveness?
How deeply ingrained?

How deeply healing
when I myself forgive me?
And again I ask

How deeply healing?
Our God made a way for us
to be forgiven.

Made in His image,
the road is already paved
to forgive others.

Made in His image,
the road is already paved
to forgive ourselves.

So let’s live our lives
in the state of forgiveness
that’s been granted us.

“Look what you has done
and there be no forgiveness,”
and upside-down lakes,

and trogglehumpers,
and dreams that float like fireflies
are just a story.

© Marie Elena Good, 2019