It is the seventh year
since you deemed my debts too high to pay,
charging triple interest,
refusing to provide a statement
of charges to account.

Beneath weight of silence,
unexplained balance of sin, wrong done,
at last I buckled, broke,
last assets of health and home burnt…
ashes. We all fall down.

It will be seven years
before I’ve any hope of buying
anything – year my boy,
child of promise, turns eighteen. Will he,
too, carry heavy debt?

Unforgiving, you stand
and sing jubilee. All the while
blissfully ignorant,
disputing that you hold only key
to future solvency.

~~~
Please, tell me what I owe.
Let me pay my debt
or forgive in whole –
not only forget.

It is too late for much
but this you can do:
tell me what I’ve done;
let all peace break through.
~~~