Unforgivable

Are there sins

So vile and invidious

That they should be deemed

Unforgivable?

Should the ability

To forgive and forget

Be considered a virtue

Or a trait of naiveté?

Many men and women

Of good moral standing,

Blinded by the inferno of

A single moment,

Impetuously tiptoe across the line

Between right and wrong

Only to have their toes

Scorched the embers

That pave the wrong side.

Each of us possess burn marks,

Some more than others,

Because the heat on the other side

Can sometimes be too alluring

To resist.

Even the best of us occasionally

Flirt with the flames.

Should one who submits to penance,

Vows to live a more righteous life

And entreats the world for forgiveness,

Be denied hope for a future nonetheless?

Why loathe a person,

Rather than embrace them in their quest to rectify their wrong?

Aren’t those who deepen the already scorching scars

No different than the flames themselves? 

Is there really such thing as

unforgivable? 

Inspired by a column by Sam Mellinger of The Kansas City Star