Daily Trojan’s Daily Poet: Forgiveness After Betrayal

This week’s series of poems are about finding forgiveness after betrayal. The first poem talks about the betrayal of being pulled in and pushed out of a relationship. As the poems progress, it discusses inner conflictions that have stemmed from the emotions of anger and sadness associated with the betrayal.

“IDENTITIES” is about the struggle of portraying my true identity. There are times when I constantly wonder if I am truly portraying who I actually am to others, or if the person they see when they look at me isn’t who I really am. I questioned how to be myself. While I struggled with these emotions of anger and sadness, some bad memories surfaced.

“Why I Don’t Play Patty Cake Anymore” is about one of these memories when people judged and bullied me for playing patty cake, a game traditionally geared toward girls, when I was five years old. It was difficult for me to understand who I was because I was being told by others who they thought I was.

The last few poems are about finally getting over the feelings and searching for forgiveness. I stepped back and realized I couldn’t forget about the people I care about in my life. I forgave and continued.