Revenge is poor cousin to real solace
fueled by passion that often fades.
Its satisfaction is like the long dead great aunt,
once cherished but hard now to remember.
It at first can resemble a valid rejoinder
without actually resolving a single thing.
Vengeance is fueled instead by justice,
its satisfaction lingers and can be revisited,
properly executed, can soothe nerves inflamed by duplicity.
Affronts might be remedied by clever retorts,
physical offenses evened out eye for eye,
humiliation buffered by shame redirected, inflicted.
Forgiveness is overrated, only a rumor,
colored reality, fragile as glass
yet is indeed available to the aggrieved
but along the meridian of retribution is uncharted
in open sea not safe coastal waters
and smells more like tepid consolation
Reprisals vary in effectiveness
like floating stones harshly reverberating,
or a fine collection of nothing of value
resembling mostly cliché wrinkled and faded, impotent,
ineffective against such insult,
leaving heartache’s grip as unopposed as winter after fall.
Forgetting is elusive and a devil to sustain,
reminders often line the way to real peace.
Acceptance is preferable but can be hard to digest.
Recollected offenses can re-emerge unheeded to mock.
Denial only seems to validate, not ease or lessen,
what alternative is there really then?