Mea Culpa Poems | Examples


List of Member Poems

Mea Culpa

Everything i did for you


Is not enough



The sacrifice i bid for you


Is not enough




Everything I've been through



I'd do it again for you



Everything I've bled through



I'd do it again for you





The things that i would die for



Is not enough



The things they took my life for


Is not enough



Wanted me on the side walk
Fighting a psy-war
You are the one that i try for




is not enough...




Everything I've been through



I'd do it again for you



Everything I've bled through



I'd do it again for you






I stopped thinking about me


When i think about you


I stopped thinking about me


When i think about you





Everything I've been through



I'd do it again for you



Everything I've bled through



I'd do it again for you

Premium Member Mea culpa Mea culpa

Heartburn and indigestion most unpleasant.
I knew better but ate it anyway.
Have only myself to blame.



Wordku: 5-7-5 words

AP: Honorable Mention 2026

Mea Culpa

Living within the madness
the echoes come and go
Channeling everything left unsaid
in phrases yet to know

Time suspended, barriers down
the walls come crashing in
Each voice a memory which haunts sublime
—that unforgiven sin

(Dreamsleep: June, 2023)


Premium Member Mea Culpa

life’s precious fabric 
unravelling strand by strand
Earth weeps

Premium Member Mea Culpa

Who would praise a god of pestilence and death
make of the “grand inquisitor” their guest
while pounding “Mea culpa” on their breast
a fool’s concocted heaven as their quest.

While we add life to melancholy’s need
To scatter its unpollinated seed
Fearful of too long unquestioned creeds
That prey upon the weak to fill their needs.

For is it not the price the privileged pay
To serve a greater master every day
To chant in droning tone of donkey bray
Exalt the sun when skies are dark and gray.

Thus, do they stand in line still begging bread
Convinced all will be well when they are dead.


John G. Lawless
©12/7/2022

Mea Culpa

Glistering liquid midnight, whispered her pain to me
Oceans hissing as thoughts scream cruelty,
Bleeding evening; a Citadel by the sea
Strawberry scent by the pyre as fine could be.

For here I fell in love with her
Fleeting, my mistress and her purest lure,
Laden fantasies as she lulled me away
Erotic, poisoned nectar where her legs fully splayed.

A flaccid branch to set me free
She sways beneath a dying tree
- a moonlit halo to attract me thither
My wishes granted to always wither

For She...

Ebon dressed this pearled enchantress
Too broken for love, devout to loneliness,
Her claws of dirt now usher my eyes
My final breath under this menstrual lit sky.

That rigid limb; now tightly strung
Closing bells of the Cathedral rung.
- Death is not too steep a price,
When blood is spent to pay for life.

The last petal fell...
When I descend in my Hell
A bullet for my thoughts as well


Premium Member Mea Culpa

One word I inadvertently let loose
from those I had kept in control for long,
the flamboyant ones I carefully chose,
over time with practice they became strong.

I did this after you came in my life,
we flowed in time in the usual way,
until we were struck by the surge of strife,
you had started to slowly stray away.

That was when the word entered my heart’s den,
but I had kept it shackled as captive,
for you to return my door was open, 
from debris lost hope I couldn’t reprieve.

My yearning for you did not ever wane,
I did not want to see you hurt and sore,
but unable to bear long the heart pain,
did not know when the captive’s chain I tore.

In the open wound like a pinch of salt
from my spiteful mouth came out the word hate,
I ruefully confessed that was my fault,
but belated, for it had sealed our fate.

_____________________

January 29, 2022
Syllable count : 10 per line
Checked on PS Counter
Contest : Latin Lessons
Sponsored by : Margarita Lillico

Mea Culpa

MEA CULPA(CA)

It was an auspicious occasion;
The wedding of the year.
And, afterwards, the guests murmured 
Aaah!
When I told them how,
At our very first meeting
I had fallen for your allure.
So how, after so few years
Has everything gone awry?
How has love turned to anguish?
You don’t need to answer.
I know you have no appetency
For discussion.
The fault is mine alone.
Nothing can assuage the guilt I feel
At my atrocious betrayal.
It happened only once,
And I was drunk.
But that does not absolve me
From responsibility.
I cling to the hope
You will one day forgive me.
I love you.

20th October 2019
Crazy A's contest
Sponsor John Hamilton

Mea Culpa

Sins of others may give pain with which I'm fraught

But don't cause me unceasing distress that lingers within

It's those things that I did but should not have, or didn't but ought

That nag me in the wee small hours and stay under my skin

Mea Culpa

Last night I heard you
through the walls
crying
and muttering some
It broke my heart

I had forgotten for a moment

Your world is not ours
your understanding
different
confusion is the normal state
it breaks your heart

I had forgotten for a moment

You have been doing so well
making new friends
independent
like everyone else
It healed my heart

I had forgotten for a moment

Life is still overwhelming
and the little things
trigger
major reactions
that break our hearts

I had forgotten for a moment

You still need me to show you
how to express emotion
guiding 
through turmoil
of a broken heart

I had forgotten for a moment

Mea culpa
je mi lito
lo siento
I’m sorry

Jscervenka 5/12/15

je mi lito= I'm sorry (Czech)
lo siento= I'm sorry (Spanish)

Written a week or so ago for my son with high functioning autism.

Mea Culpa

traducere de: Angela Mamier Nache. 

aujourd’hui dieu m’a rappelé à lui
m’a grondé comme un père en me disant
qu’un ange s’est foulé les ailes en volant
parmi mes mots et je jure que je ne l’ai pas voulu
et dieu m’a cru sur parole
après il m’a rendu tous les mots en retour
et il m’a dit gentiment de les préserver
qu’aucun ange ne se brise plus les ailes
dans leur incompris

Mea Culpa

What I have criticized in others
returns in me.
That which I despise
I am and have been.
When I stand for judgment
I ask absolution
for my humanity and mercy
for my love.

Momento Mori; Mea Culpa

On a road away from here... 
Peace vaguely shows itsself. 
I'm headed where I shouldn't be 
With nothing left, here to fear. 
All hope I had has gone away... 
My loss, I can no longer stop. 
This pain swelling within me, 
Is here to stay. 
Another day, withers by, 
Another hour of misery, within I dwell. 
Drowning in sorrow...sleeping in Hell. 
Now I just wait to die. 
This is my fault, I'm all to blame. 
No where left to go that I care to see... 
I'll run no more from intracranial torment. 
Can't run away from all of this pain. 
It was left here just for me.

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