No.

NO

There’s something I would never do, 

and that’s pretend it didn’t happen. 

When the whole world went ape-shit 

and now it’s all good, 

when your best friends called you dumb

(though maybe not to your face)

and now they feel you’re WELCOME again, 

no longer a threat:

water under the bridge 

like you created trouble 

and all is forgiven. 

But here's the thing...

Nothing’s forgiven. 

Nothing’s forgotten either. 

I will hear those words 

and witness their knowing smiles

in my inward eye, 

those so-called friends' self-congratulatory smiles that said,

‘We’re the same, doing right.’ 

I won’t forget the fear 

they all embraced,

the lie they sucked upon

like a pacifier to a kid,

shunning me,

growing.

I can’t. 

No.

* * *