Purgatory

 

“Repentance” by Federico Winqvist Estrada

 

 

what price tomorrow
what cost for revenge
pointed inward turned
back on oneself for the
wasting of yesterdays
chasing today now come
down to the urgent cruel
moment for fixing for
righting atoning regrets

too short are these days
bright lines have gone
faded the ethical paths to
good judgment obscured
in dense jungles of struggles
old growth of too many past
leaves block the sun from
this morning that doesn’t
pretend to hold promise

it’s time to pay up settle
justice deep down in the
spleen where the souring
juices of sin curdled time
if tomorrow should come
it will carry no peace only
more of the same crippling
moral uncertainty losing
its patience the toll simply
has to be paid with emetic
emotional signs of contrition

with the gravedigger’s clock
winding down odds are
better than even tomorrow
will never arrive but unless
this late bill is made good
any time that is left won’t
be worth drawing breath
give the pain to yourself
get it over and done while
the cleansing still matters

 

 

From my books Inside the Smoke and Legacies (vol. 2)