Set Me Free

wrapped in your smugness
you sit there awaiting the outcome
and i watch you
delving deep into my feelings
the old ones
and waiting to see
what new ones might come forth
the hate and revulsion
seem to be fading
flying away
recognition lights your eyes
and you smile
that old hated smile
the one that used to make me
tremble with terror
but that also seems to have
faded away
leaving ...
pity ... yes i pity you
such a wretched creature you are
preying on innocence
thinking yourself immune
but caught finally
in your own snare
still i watch you
hours drift by
among the pleadings and the
bickerings and i find
that in my heart a new feeling
strange ... yet somehow comforting
is forming there
people begin filing out
and i find myself
moving against the flow
to where you stand now
turned towards me
and watching as i approach
your eyes hard
bitter in your loss
you start to speak but
i have already said
the last three words
i will ever say to you
probably the strangest words
i have ever spoken
in my life
they surprise me still
and yet they have set me free




'i forgive you'