READY

I knew I was ready to forgive you

When I wrenched the knife from my back

I held it up high

and it cast a menacing shadow

over the face of the young man in front of me.

Its shiny metal gleamed and glistened.

I stood heaving

and the veins in my face erupted

like tree branches gnarled into the forest floor.

I held the weapon

retrieved from my own back.

I gripped it once,

twice,

and then

I put it down.