If You Have to Ask

No pedestal should

Provide forgiveness,

Wrote Stetkevych of

Tardiyyah lyrics—

A circumscribed field

For forgiveness, but,

As is often true,

What applies to small

Poems applies to much

Of the human world.

From desert stylites

To politicians

And celebrities,

The harsh solitude

Of a visible

Loneliness in air,

Bare to any eyes,

Begs for forgiveness

Not available

To lesser mortals.

But you can’t have it.

You shouldn’t get it.

You should climb down first

And not ask for it.

Live years without it.