45+ Forgiveness Poems That Will Change Your Outlook On Life

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At times, we hurt our loved ones either intentionally or unintentionally. The damage could be repaired by sending forgiveness poems. Forgiveness is a deep emotion that includes letting go of judges and the faults of someone who did wrong to us and reconciling with them. Thus, reading these poems can help them understand your actions and feelings, restore goodwill, and clear the way for reconciliation. Although it is not easy to forget the situation and forgive in a moment, it requires compassion, strength, and sympathy to let go of what happened and give a second chance. Nothing touches someone’s heart more than a wholehearted and sincere apology. Pick a thoughtful and relatable poem from our list and try your luck by sending it across. However, do give them some time to get you.

45+ Poems About Forgiveness

If you are heartbroken or feeling negative, delve into introspection and lead on to the path of forgiveness for your own good through these heart-warming poems on forgiveness. You must keep in mind that repentance must come from the heart.

1. The Joy Of Forgiveness

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The joy of forgiveness
lightens one’s burden,
It showers happiness,
Showers our heart with
blessedness, so we wake up
in a lighter mood of wellness.

Just try, unload your baggage,
Throw away such garbage,
Let our heart fly and set a voyage,

Feel free to take out such bondage,
And stop our physique from its wreckage.

The joy of forgiveness is the key,
To live on earth peacefully,
And wake up the morning readily,
A fresh air dominates comfortably,
So sweet a conscience of harmony.

I forgive you and you forgive me,
Another flow of peace release,
Another love and acceptance dominate,
Let the trust once again surface,
As we give each other a chance,
We mean forgiveness at hand.

—Susan T. Aparejo

2. Forgiveness

Bless the Lord, O my soul
And all that is within me
Forgetting not His benefits
Nor forgiveness of iniquity
Bless Him, who brings healing
And redemption to our lives
Crowning us with loving kindness
And with blessings, satisfies.

– The Bible (Psalm 103: 1-5), poetrysoup.com

3. Forgiveness

At dusk the window panes grew grey;
The wet world vanished in the gloom;
The dim and silver end of day
Scarce glimmered through the little room.

And all my sins were told; I said
Such things to her who knew not sin—
The sharp ache throbbing in my head,
The fever running high within.

I touched with pain her purity;
Sin’s darker sense I could not bring:
My soul was black as night to me;
To her I was a wounded thing.

I needed love no words could say;
She drew me softly nigh her chair,
My head upon her knees to lay,
With cool hands that caressed my hair.

She sat with hands as if to bless,
And looked with grave, ethereal eyes;
Ensouled by ancient Quietness,
A gentle priestess of the Wise.

— George William Russell

4. Patterns Of Forgiveness

Seasons come and go, leaving memories of hereditary
reminders on waysides of living.
Gathering decisions like wild flowers in bouquets of
reminiscence.
Talking of vibrant issues within niches of coagulated
being, recognizing interesting factions through
patterns of forgiveness.
Messages being sent to heaven in wisps of candle flames,
rising higher with every prayer.
Soliciting an attentive initiative towards endings of
life.

—RoseAnn V. Shawiak

5. Forgiveness Is

Forgiveness is great quality
Not all people are blessed with by almighty
Only few people really practice
They stick up to their demise
The love can not be won over by hate
You may get revenge but very late
The desired result will be not worth
That shall trouble you till death
It is nice to feel other’s woe
Your heart and mind should always go
For entire humanity and think
How to work toward that direction and bring?
Today only good wish is needed
Commodity is traded
But noble work is asking no return
Only god may help in return
Such kind of people do exist
They not only perform but insist
With their words and action
They do not worry for any reaction

– Mehta Hasmukh Amathalal, postpoetics.org

6. The Rest

The rest of us watch from beyond the fence
as the woman moves with her jagged stride
into her pain as if into a slow race.
We see her body in motion
but hear no sounds, or we hear
sounds but no language; or we know
it is not a language we know yet.
We can see her clearly
but for her it is running in black smoke.
The cluster of cells in her swelling
like porridge boiling, and bursting,
like grapes, we think.
Or we think of
explosions in mud; but we know nothing.
All around us the trees
and the grasses light up with forgiveness,
so green and at this time
of the year healthy.
We would like to call something
out to her. Some form of cheering.
There is pain but no arrival at anything.

—Margaret Atwood

7. Forgiveness

Why look you grave, why shake your head?
He wronged me sore, you say —
’Twas yesterday when that was done,
And now it is to-day.
Another eve, another morn
Has swept around the world;
And on the golden brow of eve
God’s banners lay unfurled.
And from the solemn, bending sky
The dew has fallen free,
With its soft rain it washed all stain
From off the earth and me.
And shall I then, shall I to whom
The Lord forgave so much,
Let even one soul turn away
Without a pardoning touch?
Nay, when God’s mercy rounds the world
And sweeps the universe,
Shall I alone with weary moan
Lie underneath His curse?
Lie underneath His curse, because,
Though he might let me live,
And let me live beneath His smile,
My soul would not forgive?
Go, let the dewdrops bathe your soul
As they have flowed o’er mine;
And let the daisies teach you this —
Forgiveness is divine.
And then forget that yesterday
Some wrong was done to you;
Think of the eyes that saw time’s birth
And looks creation through.
God sits in majesty serene
On heaven’s eternal hill;
He rules the whole wide universe,
And He forgives us still.
Why should I hold an angry thought
Because a wrong was done?
I pray to God no sin of mine
May see to-morrow’s sun.
So what was done me yesterday,
To-day I cannot find;
God says the sins that I have done
His love has cast behind.
The sweet dew-rain of peace and prayer
Has washed that grief away;
See, through the golden gates of eve
Fades out another day.

– Agnes Neale, australianculture.org

Research finds

People who practice forgiveness have lower blood pressure and heart rates, potentially reducing their risk of cardiovascular diseases (1).

8. Forgiveness

Now bury with the dead years conflicts dead
And with fresh days let all begin anew.
Why longer amid shrivelled leaf-drifts tread,
When buds are swelling, flower-sheaths peeping through?
Seen through the vista of the vanished years,
How trivial seem the struggle and the crown,
How vain past feuds, when reconciling tears
Course down the channel worn by vanished frown.
How few mean half the bitterness they speak!
Words more than feelings keep us still apart,
And, in the heat of passion or of pique,
The tongue is far more cruel than the heart.
Since love alone makes it worthwhile to live,
Let all be now forgiven, and forgive.

—Alfred Austin

9. Forgiveness

It is always
What I would like to think
That I would do first.
…It’s not of course.
It’s after anger,
It’s after fear,
It’s after the hate,
That draws me near.
It’s a wearing out,
It’s a draining away,
It’s waiting it out,
Day after day.
So go ask God
For his forgiveness,
He is so much quicker
Than I.
Or ask me again
Much more later,
After I’ve had
A lot more liquor.

– Sandra Osborne, postpoetics.org

10. May We All Ask Forgiveness To God

May we all ask forgiveness to God?
Sometimes we are just too busy with our lives
And we forget about you
And the worst part is that when
We remember that we forgot about you
Is too late.

—Aldo Kraas

11. Revenge

AH! I could curse them in my woe,
E’en as the viper stings,
And to the heel that strikes it clings,
So I could plant my blow.
Yes, I could pray that fell disease
Should torture them with pain —
That plague should fall in every rain,
Miasma taint each breeze.
That wealth should vanish, and the curse
Of poverty should reign;
That cries for bread should be in vain!
An always empty purse.
That friends should die, and every pride
Should vanish in a day;
‘Till even hope withdraws her ray,
And naught of joys abide.
Yes, I could whisper in the ear
Of one who loves to tell
Some fabrication, dark as hell,
As scandal loves to hear.
Revenge is sweet; I could invent
Full many a thousand way,
That would my heartfelt wrongs repay,
Could they my soul content.
But could I go to sleep in peace,
And could I dream of heaven —
Could I e’er hope to be forgiven
When death came to release?
Revenge is sweet to those who live;
But when we think of death —
The ebbing of this life-tide breath —
‘Tis sweeter to forgive.

—Mary E. Tucker, University of Michigan Library

12. Sorry

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Dear parents,
I forgive you my life,
Begotten in a drab town,
The intention was good;
Passing the street now,
I see still the remains of sunlight.
It was not the bone buckled;
You gave me enough food
To renew myself.
It was the mind’s weight
Kept me bent, as I grew tall.
It was not your fault.
What should have gone on,
Arrow aimed from a tried bow
At a tried target, has turned back,
Wounding itself
With questions you had not asked.

—R. S. Thomas

Point to consider

Forgiveness is a lengthy and tiresome process that requires immense strength of character. It may take time for the other person to fully understand and appreciate your gesture.

13. Forgiveness

I forgave you so many years ago.
I forgot your offence that day
When you made my colourful dreams pale
By crushing my soft mind
And breaking my tender heart.
But can you forget me for a single moment?
Once you made me dream
To build a colourful world with you.
Don’t the happy moments knock at the door
Of your mind even for a second?
I forgave you my dear
When the colourful dreams fell
From the branches of my mind and heart.
But have you forgotten me even for a moment?
Are you truly happy today my dear?

– Dipankar Sadhukhan, postpoetics.org

14. Forgiveness Is Divine

We are all sinners on this earth;
So, let us forgive each other and live in peace.

Forgiveness is divine!
So, forgive one another and live in peace.

Forgive your enemies and try very hard to forget their past mistakes!
Yes, life must go on;
With the muse of peace and love.

—Edward Kofi Louis

15. Forgive Me

I’ve never been so broken
that it hurts intensely when I breathe
I sit and cry an ocean
not knowing what to think.
I feel as though I’ve let you down
and your love for me will fade
and I can’t help but feel horrible
for mistakes that I have made.
Just know how truly bad I feel
for making you feel so vile
I wish I could take it all away
but it takes a little while
Saying the words I’m sorry
just don’t seem like enough
but we’ll get past this together
like we do when times are tough.
I feel like you deserve better
I hate what I put you through
but if you give me the chance
I promise I’ll make it up to you.

– Taleah, lovelifepoems.net

16. Parable Of Faith

Now, in twilight, on the palace steps
the king asks forgiveness of his lady.
He is not
duplicitous; he has tried to be
true to the moment; is there another way of being
true to the self?

The lady
hides her face, somewhat
assisted by the shadows.
She weeps
for her past; when one has a secret life,
One’s tears are never explained.
Yet gladly would the king bear
the grief of his lady: his
is the generous heart,
in pain as in joy.
Do you know
What does forgiveness mean? it mean
the world has sinned, the world
must be pardoned.

—Louise Gluck

17. Forgive Me

I am sorry for everything I have put you through,
All the pain and hurt I have caused you,
Your love was the best thing I ever had,
I will be forever sad,
Without you in my life,
I don’t want to be anyone else’s wife,
Please forgive me,
I will always be the best I can be,
Are love is strong,
I will never do you wrong,
All I want is to be with you,
I know I’ve hurt you,
Please find it in your heart,
To forgive, a smile is a just the start,
I will never find love again,
I will love you till the end,
No matter what, you will always have my heart,
I can’t see us break apart,
For our love is pure,
I don’t want to shut the door,
I finally found the key,
With you, so please stay
And forgive me

– Alice Brett, lovelifepoems.net

18. Forgiveness

Forgiveness, a heartfelt decision.
The clearing of one’s heart without remission.
A voice from deep within, contemplates,
removal of festered thoughts of sin.

Forgiveness, allowing positive energy to prevail.
Wiping out all negativity along the trail.
Forcing out emotions of darkness deep.
Keeping straight, a good night’s sleep.

—Melvina Germain

19. Forgive and Forget

Forgive and forget! why the world would be lonely,
The garden a wilderness left to deform,
If the flowers but remembered the chilling winds only,
And the fields gave no verdure for fear of the storm!
Oh! still in thy loveliness emblem the flower,
Give the fragrance of feeling to sweeten life’s way;
And prolong not again the brief cloud of an hour,
With tears that but darken the rest of the day!
Forgive and forget! there’s no breast so unfeeling
But some gentle thoughts of affection there live;
And the best of us all require something concealing,
Some heart that with smiles can forget and forgive!
Then away with the cloud from those beautiful eyes
That brow was no home for such frowns to have met:
Oh! how could our spirits e’er hope for the skies,
If Heaven refused to forgive and forget.

– Charles Swain

20. A Feeling For Forgiveness

When tempers flare
harsh words are often said
and sometimes not meant at all.
Only in anger,
are they expressed
and not meant to be said.
We all walk different roads
and have differences of opinion,
but a feeling for forgiveness
must dwell within our lives.
When we meet obstacles,
we must always
live and let live to survive.

—David Harris

21. Forgiveness

Not to forgive is emptiness
For cold and lonely souls
Who understand forgiveness
As somewhere they can’t go
They fear a loss of strength it seems
And trap others in their web
Of blame and guilt and right and wrong
And leave the truth unsaid
For truth is not their province
Nor humanity their cause
They ask others to obey them
And think they own the laws
They seek virtue in adversity
They cannot once forgive
For they have never done a wrong
In the perfect lives they live.

– David Keig, postpoetics.org

22. Forgiveness Please

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I know what it takes to forgive
And I’m asking so I can begin to live
Again and not be so sad
You have a right to hold it back and be mad
But think of this in the end
Forgiveness will be good to comprehend.

—Paul Warren

23. Asking For Forgiveness…

God’s Forgiveness Grace & Love
God keeps His every prophecy and promise
As we depend on His divine intervention from above.
No matter how we blunder, or fall short of His glory,
We trust our Shepherd for His forgiveness, grace and love.
All the heroes of God’s Bible
Had to learn their lessons the hard way.
We still study their stories and compare their outcomes
Every time we read His Word and pray.
The Lord can close doors no man can open
And open doors no man can close.
It’s up to us to prove our Heavenly worth
By our lifetime example of the path we chose.

– Tom Zart, postpoetics.org

24. Forgiveness Is The End

Forgiveness is the end of Past.
Conceived ideas begin to form:
An old mind crushing to dust:
The brave survivor of the storm!
As you reach your depths, you find
A wiser man at ease, with pride.

A passing sense of emptiness,
Numb, as old emotions had subsided:
Conclude that life is nothingness,
And Hope arises to bright your side:
In heart, the birth of a new dream,
Shows you the future path fulfilled.

—Mihaela Pirjol

25. Forgiveness

Lucky the man who never judges
Another, or bears any grudges!
Sometimes it’s so hard to forgive –
I guess it’s a question of ‘live and let live’.
When someone has wronged you or hurt your pride
And hatred is eating you up inside,
Try to forgive and release the pain,
Don’t take those walks down memory lane,
Don’t be a victim again and again.
Anger can really drive you mad
And scorn and contempt are just as bad,
Better just to forget and let it go,
Let the spirit say Yes, though the flesh says No.

– John Thorkild Ellison, postpoetics.org

26. Individual Forgiveness

Forgiveness is in the hands of individual hearts,
sometimes being given, more often not.

Feelings hurt, tears falling, staining self-esteem,
never finding a way to find comfort from the abuse
being given.

Circumstances always essentially the same, yelling
screaming, verbal, mental, and emotional.

Falling upon innocent ears and minds, taking a toll
on a child, filling them with endless fears and
stress.

Taking away their mental stamina and physical health,
marring the childhood they were supposed to have.

—RoseAnn V. Shawiak

27. Forgiveness

Petals of a flower are brighter
There is a fragrance in the air
That earlier wasn’t there
The sky is limitless
It is bluer than blue
Seems impossible…but it is true
Gravity has released its pull
Each step now has no weight
There is no animosity or hate
Forgiveness has a way of removing
Dreary spirits and boosting strength
It eliminates stains that taint

– Theresa Ann Moore, postpoetics.org

28. Forgiveness

“My heart was heavy, for its trust had been

Abused, its kindness answered with foul wrong;

So, turning gloomily from my fellow-men,

One summer Sabbath day I strolled among

The green mounds of the village burial-place;

Where, pondering how all human love and hate

Find one sad level; and how, soon or late,

Wronged and wrongdoer, each with meekened face,

And cold hands folded over a still heart,

Pass the green threshold of our common grave,

Whither all footsteps tend, whence none depart,

Awed for myself, and pitying my race,

Our common sorrow, like a mighty wave,

Swept all my pride away, and trembling I forgave!”

—John Greenleaf Whittier

29. Forgiveness

Forgiveness is a cure
Forgive all your enemies
Forgive all your sins
One day you will look back
And be glad
You threw them all
Into a bin……

– Suzan Gumush, postpoetics.org

30. The Lover Asks Forgiveness Because Of His Many Moods

If this importunate heart trouble your peace
With words lighter than air,
Or hopes that in mere hoping flicker and cease;
Crumple the rose in your hair;
And cover your lips with odorous twilight and say,
‘O Hearts of wind-blown flame!
O Winds, older than changing of night and day,
That murmuring and longing came
From marble cities loud with tabors of old
In dove-grey faery lands;
From battle-banners, fold upon purple fold,
Queens wrought with glimmering hands;
That saw young Niamh hover with love-lorn face
Above the wandering tide;
And lingered in the hidden desolate place
Where the last Phoenix died,
And wrapped the flames above his holy head;
And still murmur and long:
O piteous Hearts, changing till change be dead
In a tumultuous song’:
And cover the pale blossoms of your breast
With your dim heavy hair,
And trouble with a sigh for all things longing for rest
The odorous twilight there.

—William Butler Yeats

31. Forgiveness

Forgiveness
Is the mightiest sword
Forgiveness of those you fear
Is the highest reward
When they bruise you with words
When they make you feel small
When it’s hardest to take
You must do nothing at all…

– Jane Eyre, shortpoems.org

32. Dark August

So much rain, so much life like the swollen sky
of this black August. My sister, the sun,
broods in her yellow room and won’t come out.

Everything goes to hell; the mountains fume
like a kettle, rivers overrun; still,
she will not rise and turn off the rain.

She is in her room, fondling old things,
my poems, turning her album. Even if thunder falls
like a crash of plates from the sky,

she does not come out.
Don’t you know I love you but am hopeless
at fixing the rain? But I am learning slowly

to love the dark days, the steaming hills,
the air with gossiping mosquitoes,
and to sip the medicine of bitterness,

so that when you emerge, my sister,
parting the beads of the rain,
with your forehead of flowers and eyes of forgiveness,

all with not be as it was, but it will be true
(you see they will not let me love
as I want), because, my sister, then

I would have learnt to love black days like bright ones,
The black rain, the white hills, when once
I loved only my happiness and you.

—Derek Walcott

33. Forgiveness

If I cannot forgive myself
For all the blunders
That I have made
Over the years,
Then how can I proceed?
How can I ever
Dream perfection-dreams?
Move, I must, forward.
Fly, I must, upward.
Dive, I must, inward,
To be once more
What I truly am
And shall forever remain.

– Sri Chinmoy, poetseers.org

34. When Forgiveness Can’t Be Forgiven

Love is a virtue,
Based on forgiveness and peace.
But once –
True love is established between two,
Then parting or leaving
Cannot be agreed in any case.
The depth of love
Can never forgive the parting in between.
On peace and forgiveness,
Love’s plinth may be built upon.
But once the cocoon is formed with love
Forgiveness never exists.
The attachment between two true lovers
Is so strong and concrete,
They don’t agree with any parting
Though mortality does exist.
Thus selfless love becomes so selfish
Once true love is formed between the two.
True lovers’ love never exhausts
neither forgets nor forgives.

– Amitava Sur, postpoetics.org

35. A Lesson Of Life

Sins to reach clouds of sky
sins nearly as great as earth
sins as many as foams of ocean

were you then to pray to God
were you then to come to God
were you then to ask forgiveness

ascribing no partner to God
so long as you call upon God
ask of mercy and forgive to God

God would bring you forgiveness
God shall forgive you for what you have done
God is the Most Merciful and Fullest of Forgiveness.

—Ahmad Shiddiqi

36. Forgiving the Darkness

Darkness is not a death, does not obliterate,
will not bury you or take your breath away.
Darkness will not erase you the way it erases day with night
because darkness is not the clock but merely the time
falling away from the clock’s circular face.
Darkness is not the loss but the thing misplaced,
not the hammer but the nail in its curved emergence
from wood’s grasp, not the storm’s insurgence
but the limbs broken off from their miraculous
suspension in a storm out far, beyond us.
Darkness is not about hearts, imperfect as they are,
but what leaks through their incorrigible doors, not the stars
but the glissade or glide of their dust.
Darkness no longer shields the hunters’ musk
in search of you, or turns you to animal prey,
it is only a measure of weight or days.
Not something without a beginning or an end,
it is not even—especially not—an end.
Nor is it vertigo, nor the whole, but merely a piece.
No, darkness is but a ghost of an idea, the least
remembered, most estranged prayer, and your fear
but a lingering, limbic fear torn from shreds of forgotten years.
Only that much is clear.

– Alice B. Fogel, poetryfoundation.org

37. Elemental Forgiveness

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Lightning flashes, over the distant hills,
The smell of rain is in the air.
I love the way the the caressing wind feels,
As it blows gently through my hair.

A steel grey curtain, slowly descends,
Kissing the lonely land.
In a loving gesture, making amends,
To the parched and burning sand.

The tears come down on the grateful face,
Of the Earth and she’s consoled.
Her pain and sorrow now erased,
The rain is welcomed to the fold.

—Juan Olivarez

38. Forgiveness

It’s hard to forget even harder to forgive.
It’s hard to forgive someone for hurting you,
for inflicting pain on you,
for making you shed a tear or two.
It’s hard to move on, when you’re stuck!
stuck like a rock is pinning you down,
stuck like you’re sinking in a bottomless pit of quick sand,
stuck like you’re paralyzed from your neck down to your toes.
Unaware of who are your friends or foes
Who really loves YOU, for YOU, and only YOU just the way YOU are
Or… Those who want something from you.
People like that make it hard to forgive.
They’re the ones that hurt you, inflict pain on you, make you shed that tear or two.
Just Stop! For a minute just clear your mind, let it go!
Forgiveness
A wise person once told me Forgiveness will set you free so you won’t be a slave to your hurt feelings.
Forgiveness
It’s a hand pushing the rock off of you.
It’s an arm pulling you out the quick sand.
It’s the feeling coming back to your legs and hands.
Forgiveness
The ability to forgive.

– Chyanne Rhodes, powerpoetry.org

39. The Path Of Forgiveness

As I creep down the path of forgiveness
and I search for my own lonely heart,
I yearn for the feel of completion.
I must finish what God made me start.

I can see in the distant horizon
there resemble someone I once knew.
Do I have the strength needed to reach her?
If I don’t, can I get it from you?

Will you help clear my path as I’m trudging
down that frightfully winding old road?
Can I lean on your arm for my safety
even though you can’t carry my load?

This old path is alive in my memory.
It knew I’d return on this day.
I am listening to my own heartbeat
while the unknown is leading the way.

My legs have been turned into jelly.
I see myself walking along.
I wonder if I should be back here.
For some reason this feels very wrong.

—Mary Nagy

40. Love And Forgiveness

Love once lost, is lost forever.
Once it goes, it comes back never.
It leaves back yearnings deep in the heart,
Released as sighs when it quietly falls apart.
Poetry is an abode, for the yearnings to remain,
Forever, the thought of lost love causes immense pain.
What causes the failure, we fail to perceive,
Our egotist minds do not allow us to forgive.
And what causes the pain, is a puzzle we cannot fix,
The desire to love, or to be loved, or both in a mix.
The moon too has its blemishes we hardly remember,
The spirit of forgiveness gives love much of its splendor.

– Khairul Ahsan, postpoetics.org

41. It’s Tough Without You

It’s hard to make you understand,

But, believe me I don’t pretend,

Mistake has happened and I won’t deny,

Blame on the situation to defy,

I just want that you forgive me through,

So that I don’t feel blue,

Please forgive me now,

I don’t have any words or how!

Forgive me!

—Unknown

42. Prayer For Help With Forgiveness

Send strong winds, O God
and sweep away
the hatreds and the hurts.
Sweep them
roots and all
from memory’s ground
to lie beneath
your blazing light
and dry to sterile dust.
Send strong winds, O God
and sweep away
the hatreds and the hurts.

– Glen Kappy, postpoetics.org

43. This Is Just to Say

I have eaten
the plums
that were in
the icebox

and which
you were probably
saving
for breakfast

Forgive me
they were delicious
so sweet
and so cold.

—William Carlos Williams

44. Forgiveness

For Dad
I’m writing you
10 years later
& 2,000 miles
Away from
Our silence
My mouth a cave
That had collapsed
I’m writing
While you
You wear the
Hospital gown &
count failures
Such as the body’s
Inability to rise
I see your fingers
Fumbling in the
Pillbox as if
Earthquakes are in
Your hands
I think it’s time
For us to abandon
Our cruelties
For us to speak
So soft
We’re barely
Human.

– Christopher Soto, poets.org

45. In Memoriam A. H. H.

Forgive what seem’d my sin in me;
What seem’d my worth since I began;
For merit lives from man to man,
And not from man, O Lord, to thee.

Forgive my grief for one removed,
Thy creature, whom I found so fair.
I trust he lives in thee, and there
I find him worthier to be loved.

Forgive these wild and wandering cries,
Confusions of a wasted youth;
Forgive them where they fail in truth,
And in thy wisdom make me wise.”

—Alfred Lord Tennyson

46. Aphorisms On Forgiveness

Once God’s Forgiveness-Sun
Rises,
It never sets.
In my outer life,
My Lord,
I see Your Compassion-Flood.
In my inner life,
My Lord,
I see Your Forgiveness-Ocean.
O Forgiver of all my shortcomings,
Forgive me.
A new hope is being born in my heart.
I shall cry from today on
To grow into Perfection’s beauty-delight.

– Sri Chinmoy Ghose, postpoetics.org

47. Things Do Happen

Image: Shutterstock

Things do happen with the flow of hour,
In minutes two people can go far,
I did not mean to hurt you in any way,
I did not mean to misbehave that day,
But, whatever happened,
I am in supplication of your benevolence
Please forget about it,
Coz now I seek atonement,
I hope you will do it soon!
May your leniency and tolerance shine through
And let humility and grace
Pave the way for peace and serenity.

—Unknown

48. Forgiveness

I didn’t know what to do.
When you just showed up
And said you were sorry
I was shocked
I didn’t think
That I would ever see you again
At least not under those conditions.
So I ran
Back inside and slammed the door
Because I was afraid to forgive you
And I was confused.
And now I’m the one
Who is saying sorry.

– Akara K, postpoetics.org

Note: The poems in this collection are not original works of MomJunction but have been sourced from various authors. No claim of ownership is being made by us. Credit has been given wherever the details were available. If you are the original author of any poem and wish to have it credited or removed, please contact us. We value the creative rights of authors and will address your request promptly.

Illustration: Forgiveness Poems That Will Change Your Outlook On Life

Image: Stable Diffusion/MomJunction Design Team

Infographic: Ways In Which You Can Ask For Forgiveness

Asking someone for forgiveness does not make you appear small or inferior to them. Instead, it helps you gain a sense of better understanding and also be guilt-free. We have prepared the following infographic to help you ask for a sincere apology.

Illustration: Momjunction Design Team

Forgiveness is an emotion that can relieve the pain of both parties. Watch this video to get a heart-touching poem on forgiveness.

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Reviewer Author Editor

Loic EkingaPoet

Loic Ekinga is a writer from the Democratic Republic of Congo. He is the author of the poetry collection How To Wake A Butterfly (Odyssey Books, 2021). His works of fiction and poetry have appeared in Agbowò, Type/Cast Magazine, Salamander Ink,  Ja.

Read full bio of Loic Ekinga

Ratika PaiM.Com

Ratika holds a master's degree in commerce and a post-graduate diploma in communication and journalism from Mumbai University. She has 6 years of experience writing in various fields, such as finance, education, and lifestyle.

Read full bio of Ratika Pai

Akshay NairMA

Akshay is an associate editor and former journalist with more than four years of experience. A post graduate in Mass Communication and Journalism, he has strong professional and academic background in the field of content writing and editing.

Read full bio of Akshay Nair