Today's featured poem is about atoning for past sins. Wouldn't it be great if we had the chance to make up for all our fleeting hateful moments? Think about the meanest thing you've ever done; anyway to make restitution for it now? Go ahead; pay it forward!
2010 Poetry Parade: Day 9
Redemption
by
Kathe Palka
Redemption
by
Kathe Palka
tends to catch you by surprise,
like an old high school teacher,
math or English, the one you
made fun of because she lisped
while encouraging you in front of friends
after a failure. You hated the subject,
her class, the way the radiator
hissed incessantly all winter
in the drab room.
Back home years later,
you meet her on the street
and she smiles at you, happy
about your successes, glad
you’ve turned out all right,
her forgiveness making the trip
worthwhile.
From Faith to See and Other Poems (Finishing Line Press, 2007)
First published in The Penwood Review
Used with the author’s permission.
