With scraping of metal upon metal
The cold dark reality did settle

Trapped.  Imprisoned.  Bound
Into darkness with no escape to be found

And in that dark, dank, deadly space
No relief to be found from the biting, clawing embrace

Anger.  Angst.  Resentment.  Hate.
Poison in the veins, sealing your fate.

Moment by moment torturing the mind
Choking out life in it’s suffocating bind

Memories bitterly relived in a cruel endless campaign
Each rehearsal lengthening and strengthening the chain

Defeat, despondency, despair unfeelingly consuming
The emptiness all that now remains, somberly dooming

A prisoner without light’s hope
Devoid of any and all means to cope

OR

Are you?
Is there a way through?

YES!

A beacon of light does suddenly appear 
A pinprick blazing like the sun to provoke the eye to tear

The promise of release palpable
Delivering that which you never thought possible.

BUT NO! That is too heard, the heart rebels
And yet, it is the only nope, the light patiently tells

For a while, with eyes clamped shut
Light’s hope is scorned with its intrusive cut

But the darks brutal, biting pain persists
And light’s promising hope meekly insists

With a deep sigh of resignation 
You yield with a hesitant sense of consternation 

“It’s time to end my own torture and torment.”
Your desperation does declare with regretful lament

For pain has been your only companion 
Validating your hurt in life’s long jagged canyon

Parting with it now feels like too great a loss
Despite knowing it is life’s greatest albatross 

You’ve grown comfortable with the dark
And from its familiar presence you hesitate to  part

But dark’s pain convinces you to let it go
In favor of lights promising peaceful glow

So, light now illuminates the way out
In certainty, it removes all doubt

Forgiveness you now know is freedoms only path
The only way to thwart injustices indignant wrath

And with the knowledge and understanding 
Light strengthens, growing and expanding

Truth it offers to your heart
Proffering a new and precious start

Freedom, it says, is dependent upon the release
Of your playing judge, jury, and executioner’s piece

Gently it declares, “Those roles are not yours to play,
And in your own lane you must rigidly stay.”

Freedom will never come with retribution 
For vengeance offers no lasting solution 

Rather, you must release your claim
And let go of the right to blame

The act of choosing to forgive
Is an act to not in bitterness live.

Forgiveness is no absolution of guilt or fault
Many an offense may yet fill their vault

Forgiveness is not innocence’s declaration 
But merely a release of one’s binding consternation 

To forgive, then, is to humbly relinquish and entrust 
Their punishment to another who IS perfectly just

Forgiveness abdicates retributions weight 
Leaving another, YOU Abba, to deal their fate

No longer must you accept responsibility 
To address and punish their execrable culpability 

With unwavering resolve you now decide 
To fling all anger and resentment aside 

And with conscious decision to rise
You mark angers bitter and final demise

You choose:  “I forgive.  I release you!
No longer will I be bound by what you have done!”

Darkness suddenly flees this former occupied space
Light rushing in with it’s tender and gracious embrace

Freedom has come just as the light promised
With a song to rival the greatest psalmist

Peace in the midst of pain does descend
The long dark torment finally, joyfully coming to an end.

Forgiveness flourishes, grace has spoken
And in the  midst of suffering, mercy has awoken.