Forgive and forget... not so much

You laugh, head tipped back

For a second, I remember you

from a long time ago

So familiar, yet so changed

We make small talk

Onlookers think

Isn't that nice

There is a serious

Droning

In my head.

I feel my jaw clench

And then again.

You lean forward

Interested

I must be talking

But somehow

Even though I know

I have forgiven you

Long ago,

I am poised,

Ready to flee

To protect

Myself

From you.

To forgive

Does not mean

To ever forget.

How could it?

Found this here after returning from dinner with an old 'friend' and it rang so true that I felt the woman who wrote it must have been inside my head the whole time.

Sometimes words from a stranger can be more expressive than our own.

forgiveness... a tough nut to crack... even when you're working on it!