The Charity of Forgetting

I watched you set fire to everything I had left-
the already charred remnants you had been 
trying to leave behind since you discovered
the charity of forgetting. 
“You can leave anything in the past, if you can hate 
yourself enough to burn from the inside out. 
You can become clean. New.” 
I’ve been trying to rise from the ashes for as
long as I can remember. But, I’m rootless under 
the glowing pyre that I can still see reflected 
back at me every time I look in the mirror. 
Your honey brown eyes pouring venomous 
tears onto my cheeks as you tell me that you 
love me. 
But...
You just can’t take it anymore.
Cinders burn my shoulders as I try to heave 
what should have become rotten, 
so long ago into my stubborn and conflicted 
chasm of what I’m naive enough to label “Hope”. 
I know you’re never coming back. 
To be honest. I don’t want you to. 
I just want that feeling again. 
That velvet, unconditional warmth.
So unlike this searing heat that 
you ignited when you tore away the only 
thing that made me feel- real. 

As the smoke begins to gather in my temple,
I can smell the cost of hating love. 
And the inevitability of becoming a shadow 
behind a crumbling haven that I thought 
I would always call, home. 
And so I let go of the embrace. 
The fear of being buried by goodbye. 
It will always burn.
The immense weight of memory.
The inability to forget. 
And the relentless need to use 
our passion as an accelerant for 
my own purpose. 
-James Kelley 2018

Copyright © | Year Posted 2018



Post Comments

Poetrysoup is an environment of encouragement and growth so only provide specific positive comments that indicate what you appreciate about the poem. Negative comments will result your account being banned.

Please Login to post a comment

Be the first to comment on this poem. Encourage this poet.

Get a Premium Membership
Get more exposure for your poetry and more features with a Premium Membership.
Book: Radiant Verses: A Journey Through Inspiring Poetry

Member Area

My Admin
Profile and Settings
Edit My Poems
Edit My Quotes
Edit My Short Stories
Edit My Articles
My Comments Inboxes
My Comments Outboxes
Soup Mail
Poetry Contests
Contest Results/Status
Followers
Poems of Poets I Follow
Friend Builder

Soup Social

Poetry Forum
New/Upcoming Features
The Wall
Soup Facebook Page
Who is Online
Link to Us

Member Poems

Poems - Top 100 New
Poems - Top 100 All-Time
Poems - Best
Poems - by Topic
Poems - New (All)
Poems - New (PM)
Poems - New by Poet
Poems - Read
Poems - Unread

Member Poets

Poets - Best New
Poets - New
Poets - Top 100 Most Poems
Poets - Top 100 Most Poems Recent
Poets - Top 100 Community
Poets - Top 100 Contest

Famous Poems

Famous Poems - African American
Famous Poems - Best
Famous Poems - Classical
Famous Poems - English
Famous Poems - Haiku
Famous Poems - Love
Famous Poems - Short
Famous Poems - Top 100

Famous Poets

Famous Poets - Living
Famous Poets - Most Popular
Famous Poets - Top 100
Famous Poets - Best
Famous Poets - Women
Famous Poets - African American
Famous Poets - Beat
Famous Poets - Cinquain
Famous Poets - Classical
Famous Poets - English
Famous Poets - Haiku
Famous Poets - Hindi
Famous Poets - Jewish
Famous Poets - Love
Famous Poets - Metaphysical
Famous Poets - Modern
Famous Poets - Punjabi
Famous Poets - Romantic
Famous Poets - Spanish
Famous Poets - Suicidal
Famous Poets - Urdu
Famous Poets - War

Poetry Resources

Anagrams
Bible
Book Store
Character Counter
Cliché Finder
Poetry Clichés
Common Words
Copyright Information
Grammar
Grammar Checker
Homonym
Homophones
How to Write a Poem
Lyrics
Love Poem Generator
New Poetic Forms
Plagiarism Checker
Poetics
Poetry Art
Publishing
Random Word Generator
Spell Checker
Store
What is Good Poetry?
Word Counter