The Dream

Accessory
to murder.

Many years
ago.

The weapon
gone in amnesty.

He was a
wrong’un.

Thief!

She harbours
truth,

decency
and fault.

Her patio
withholds his dead.

She was a
wrong’un.

The Meaning

accessory
Feeling shame and guilt over past actions, words and events that weren’t completely within my control. A reckoning with what responsibility means when knowledge, agency and understanding are limited.

concealment
There’s a desire not to be discovered for past actions or mistakes. But keeping the past buried requires something of the present self too.

What Lingers…

Can guilt can be carried without it becoming identity?

What if reconciliation needs truth, not lifelong punishment?

---

Marginalia

Shame, guilt and rumination bring the past into present. Memories I thought long dealt with still arrive unexpectedly. I find myself wondering why they return. Already dealt with, I remind them.
Shush.