Forgiveness Totem



Tree give me shade to rest tired memories,
a bench to watch the world lap up my past
a shaded pathway to reawaken, to colour,
a child’s desire to escape foul memories.

Eagle, tell me to recover, to hunt anew
in the majesty of the sky, to soar unhurt,
in cloaking to shield elements of my soul
in its shedding, be thrice honoured anew.

Salmon, travel the rivers and seas home,
so that we may all be siblings in our sorrow,
so in the rebirth at the source, we can swim
so that a new honour can find its own home.

Orca, let our homage swirl past your eye,
to play with your cousins, in their great joy,
to allow the inner child out to romp in glee
to a tune that dries the tears in sorrow’s eye.

Say we all,
so we can heal,
learn in grace.

Kennet Benoît-Hutchins

About this poem

I lived in British Columbia for many years, loved walking in its forests: which in part gave incentive to the following.

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Written on December 25, 2008

Submitted by Kennet on December 26, 2021

Modified on March 25, 2023

50 sec read
249

Quick analysis:

Scheme AXBA CXXC DBXD EXXE XXX
Closest metre Iambic pentameter
Characters 772
Words 169
Stanzas 5
Stanza Lengths 4, 4, 4, 4, 3

Kennet Benoît-Hutchins

A Canadian ambulatory Homo sapiens male, who muses and just sometimes, remembers to make note of a verse or two. Unionist with Unifor, accident adjudicator. Runs amok with words, occasionally coherent. more…

All Kennet Benoît-Hutchins poems | Kennet Benoît-Hutchins Books

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    "Forgiveness Totem" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 11 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem/116563/forgiveness-totem>.

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