Forgiveness

By Richard Dinges, Jr.

He often said

it was easier to forgive

than to forget. I do not

remember what he found

so hard to forget.

It was long ago

when I listened little

for what lay beneath

spoken words. I know

he held grudges.

I saw them linger

in his eyes when

he squinted at me,

as if trying to remember something,

for that last moment

just before they stilled

and I passed my fingers

over his lids to close them.

Eyes are harder to close

in death than in life.