Forgiving Myself
By TG
At times I wonder, can I forgive myself?
My past self would say, “If not you who else?”
I want the courage to make vulnerable my heart
But
When I look up I see neither sun or moon, only the dark
Inside my heart I hear screams of sorrow and pain
My heart desires the comfort of the rain
But
My circumstances blotch my skin with stain
Forgiveness is wealth that inspires spiritual health
So my sickness makes hard to say, “I love myself.”
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TG,
Thank you for taking the time to share this with us. Sometimes the hardest person to forgive is ourselves. Our past can be all consuming. Keep working on your self love; you are worthy of forgiveness and a bright future.
Keep Writing!
I like your poem. Its about a very moving topic, and I liked the structure you used. Good job and keep writing!
Wow, TG, this is such a powerful poem. I can really feel the anguish you are expressing. I love the line “My heart desires the comfort of the rain.” I think we all struggle to forgive ourselves at many points in our lives. I hope that through your writing you do find the path to loving yourself. You are a talented poet!
TG, The rhythm you created with these line breaks and the “BUT” sounded so good, especially read out loud. The “BUT” created a kind of sharp, stopping sound, like taking a deep breath in or holding your breath. The other part of the poem I liked the best was: “Forgiveness is wealth that inspires spiritual health.” That is such a good line with so much insight…Self-love and forgiveness is an everyday job, and requires constant work. I know I’m working on it myself. Thank you for making me think this morning and inspiring me to go write a poem. Blessings and love to you.
This poem is very impactful. The breaks in between this piece give your story hard pauses, giving the reader a moment to reflect and feel the impact of these moments of sorrow to encouragement, back to sorrow. It is as if you bring the reader into a dark place, show them light, and take the light away again. It is truly telling of an internal struggle. If this poem is coming from a personal place for you, I would hope that you follow those moments of light and say that “I love myself.” Sometimes that darkest tunnels lead to the most beautiful vistas.
I hope that you can forgive yourself. You are worthy of forgiveness.
This is beautiful. Thank you for sharing. None of this is your fault.
I love the imagery in this poem. There is just a clear feeling of wanting to break free and move forward with you life but the overbearing weight of feeling trapped with your past decisions and that they won’t let you move on. I think your last stanza “my circumstances…myself” is super powerful. I love the comparison of forgiveness to a sort of currency. It not spoken often enough that forgiveness is a privilege unfairly given; not many people realize that the way we forgive others trespasses is tied to cultural consciousness and systemic racism in this country.
This is really beautifully written. My favorite line is “My heart desires the comfort of the rain” – something about that speaks sadness but it’s also soothing. Thank you for sharing your poetry, keep up the good work!
I really enjoyed reading this poem. I can really feel the emotion that this poem holds and reflects possible past experiences. This poem seems to always have a “but” in between stanzas. Those are the setbacks that you have in your life but I think that you could find some sort of forgiveness within to forgive yourself. I think that this poem is good and has a strong message. I believe that you can work to find room in yourself to in the end to love yourself. It might be hard but there is nothing you can’t do in life. Keep up the great poetry writing!
TG first and foremost thank you for sharing, this is in a way is making yourself vulnerable which in time leads to loving yourself. I understand what you feel and completely get why it so difficult to forgive yourself for your past actions. Know you are not the same person and you have the potential to be better person and be best version yourself that will not only allow you to love yourself but others too. One day you can share your past to others to help them avoid a familiar pain you are feeling right now. You are not your past TG.
Your words resonate with anyone who feels vulnerable and who is in doubt. I hope someday in the near future you can truthfully say that you love yourself and forgive yourself.
I like how the poem is split into three different stanzas. The use of the word “but” makes your poem sound like it’s transitioning just like the steps of healing. Personally, I’ve felt the same way when I had to forgive myself. I questioned if I was worthy of forgiving myself for my mistakes. My favorite line in the poem is “Forgiveness is wealth that inspires spiritual health.” The reason why I like this line is because it rhymes and uses a metaphor to compare forgiveness to wealth. Overall, the poem sounds like a narrative and has a good message. You’re good at using metaphors and maybe you could incorporate more metaphors in your future poems.
This is a very heartfelt and well-written poem! You used a lot of powerful, emotional words in your poem; some that stood out to me are: vulnerable, screams, spiritual health. I also loved the way you structured the three stanzas each separated by a simple “But”. I enjoyed reading!
This was a beautiful poem! It has emotions and heartbreak. It is hard to forgive ourselves all we have to do is work hard to get to that point of forgiveness! Keep on writing!!!
TC,
This poem truly spoke to me, I feel as though everyone in life has gone through something that they struggle to forgive themselves for, I know personally I have many things in my life I have had to learn to forgive myself for. I also resonant with the message of learning to love yourself, who else will love us if we cannot love ourselves. This poem is not only a beautiful message of learning to forgive ourselves, but empowering us to do better from our mistakes. Thank you for the reminder that we need to be kinder and more loving to ourselves. Continue to write, your words have power and can change a life. You are a blessing in this world no matter your past.
Tg. Amazing poem! Talking about your spiritual wellness and how it getting better is awesome.
This poem has a very strong message behind it. I think some people probably relate to this message a lot, and can find inspiration out of it. Very well written!
TG,
This was really an inspirational read. It encapsulates one’s mental health and the internal battles of forgiving oneself. It’s not easy at all because with other people we can walk away when they disappoint us, but when we disappoint ourselves we are stuck with our mind and that’s why self love is so important! This was incredibly relatable because I too struggle with accepting myself and treating myself better, but it’s hard with “sickness” as you say whether metaphorical or with mental illness. The repeating “but” shows you still want to try.
TG,
This was super inspirational to me. I think that not only me, but others can also find inspiration from this. The emotions you have felt really shout out to me throughout the whole poem.
Dear TG,
This is a magnificent poem and so relatable to many. One of the hardest challenges in life can learn to forgive yourself for the past and build anew. I love the line that says “if not you who else.” Forgiveness must come within before we can ever expect to be forgiven or forgive others. When we learn to forgive ourself only then love flows out, like you have mentioned. Your poem is so moving. Your words strike the heart.
Best,
M
TG,
I hope that you are still able to say that you love yourself, because you deserve love and forgiveness. I really liked the way you broke up the stanzas with “but,” it added to the rhythm of the poem as well as adding emotion. Thank you so much for sharing this poem.
Thank you for writing this poem and portraying such vulnerability. We really are our own’s biggest critic, and this just supports that.
TG,
We are always our toughest critics. Forgiving is never easy, but it does help to try and not carry the sorrow with you. This was a great poem. Thank you for being vulnerable and sharing this with everyone.
TG,
The imagery you used to describe your internal battles are so potent and do a wonderful job of depicting the difficulties of coming to terms with and loving oneself. Your interjection of “But” between stanzas was a very clever way to show the restraints and obstacles a person faces in the long and difficult journey to self love. I hope that you are well on your way in this journey to accepting yourself, but also remember that the process is one taken at your own pace and that you are valid no matter what point in the journey you are in.
Dear TG,
Your poem is beautiful and heartbreaking, and the words are something that I can really appreciate and understand. What I’ve learned, is that sometimes you need to hear someone else say these things to you. So I love you and I forgive you. You are worthy of forgiveness and I hope that you find that in yourself.
Danielle
TG,
Thank you for sharing this poem with us! Forgiving yourself is the hardest part about life. I hope you find that forgiveness for yourself some day. Itll be hard but eventually it will come. Kee writing!
Hey TG, this poem is so powerful and I really enjoyed it! Forgiving ourselves can sometimes be the hardest thing to do, but I really hope that you have. I wish you the best! Thank you for sharing this!
TG,
I think this is a real struggle that gets overlooked a lot. Self love doesn’t come easily but sometimes it takes steps. I think its really brave to be honest and realize how hard it is to say “I love myself”. And, sometimes I don’t think it’s possible. But you are right though, if not you, who else? You are the only you you have, and for good or bad. Find the good though and hold on to it because some times it can get lost with what you think everyone else is going through. But, everyone has a good and a bad too. It’s important to remember everyone in this world doesn’t know what they are doing, and your good is just important as theirs. Good luck on your self love journey, and remember that you deserve to be happy too.
TG,
This was a really moving and touching to read, it hit close to home. We all struggle in our own ways to forgive ourselves for our actions in the past and think to ourselves “how will I ever get over this?”. In the moment it is hard to see a light at the end of the tunnel, but time and effort are the only things that will heal. The imagery used in this poem makes the feelings presented in the poem much more vivid. Writing about your feelings is a good way to get yourself on track to accepting yourself because we all need an outlet to express. Keep up the good writing!
Loving and forgiving yourself can be such difficult things, and writing about it says something about your ability to be vulnerable. That is not an easy thing! Your poem is very well written and really conveys the many emotions that can go on in someone’s mind when they battle against themselves. Wonderful poem and I hope you continue to keep writing!
I think this is an amazing poem, because although every situation is different, most people can relate to this. It is very hard to forgive yourself. I love the line that says “I want the courage to make vulnerable my heart.” We want to forgive ourselves and look past things that we are sorry for, but we are our own biggest critics. I just try to pray and ask God for forgiveness and hope that with time, I will also do the same. Your poem is really good and attracts the reader with its vulnerability. Thank you for sharing.
This is very powerful and I thank you for sharing. Forgiveness is hard to do and it is very hard to forgive yourself. This has a lot of emotions felt within it and everyone can relate, even in a small way.
TG – this is well structured, incisive poem. The way you progress from self-forgiveness and self-love is sophisticated and wise. You could have turned the poem backwards and started with self-love and led to self forgiveness. The reader is left with a chicken and an egg problem – what comes first, to love one’s self or to forgive one’s self? Also, the line “my circumstances blotch my skin with stain” is just an incredible; you truly have a way with words.
Dear TG,
Thank you for this beautiful poem. You invited us into your conversation with yourself with your “but… but…”. I was also so struck by your longing for the natural world: the sun and moon, and the rain. While your poem emerges from you, I think you’ve written something that speaks to so many.
Gratefully,
Heather