Mistakes

Experience is the memory that sticks,
that sucks us in
like a movie played over and over.

It does not change
no matter how much we will it;
is so rubbed in,

it’s been made a part of our skin,
has become the cud
that at night we chew over and over;

yet cannot express,
as a cow might digested clover
simply by confessing

what we did in haste,
were too young or careless to redress,
so at night attest

our regret and beg forgiveness,
over and over.
Persistence elevates the witness

beyond the door
of ordinary petition
to score admission

to the truly human:
that place where regret is a blessing
and sleep a rest.