retribution
I have been wronged. It wasn’t my fault.
I have been preyed upon and abused. Also not my fault.
I have been wronged, preyed upon and abused because I loved, trusted and cared too much.
I was fooled and I was conned. I loved people I didn’t know were deceiving me. I trusted people I didn’t know were lying to me. The liars, cheaters, deceivers and abusers benefitted from their lies, cheating, deception and abuse. And I suffered. A lot. In multiple ways. Emotionally. Psychologically. Physically. Financially.
I paid a high price for loving, trusting and caring too much.
Worse, I’m not the only one.
There are millions more like me: victims and survivors of liars, cheaters, deceivers and abusers of one kind or another. These victims and survivors are also not to blame for having been wronged, wounded and sometimes even killed.
One day there will be retribution.
This poem is about that.
retribution
Click on the audio player if you would like to hear me read the poem:
retribution
you lie and you cheat
double down and repeat
for the promise of honey
or a potful of money
but the tables will turn
in hell you will burn
when my words find a way
to see the light of the day
you deserve what you’ll get
for your lack of regret
and the hurt that you cause
without so much as a pause
soon you’ll be sorry
for the evil you quarry
and use to harm others
just to get what you druther
the piper needs paid
for the games that you play
the wounds you inflict
and the lives you constrict
no, you won’t get away
with your soul you will pay
when everything’s known
and your cover is blown
ret·ri·bu·tion | \ ˌre-trə-ˈbyü-shən \
formal : punishment for doing something wrong
“The killer acted without fear of retribution.”
divine retribution [=punishment by God]
Full Definition
1: Recompense, reward
2: the dispensing or receiving of reward or punishment especially in the hereafter
3: something given or exacted in recompense
especially : punishment
© 2021 Susan Macaulay . I invite you to share my poetry and posts widely, but please do not reprint, reblog or copy and paste them in their entirety without my permission. Thank you.
