Joshua Walker
Forgiveness is Divine
Forgiveness is divine, or so they say
A light reserved for saints and softer men.
But monsters like us do not learn that way;
We tear our names and stitch them back again.
No god would cup these hands or cleanse this skin.
We sleep in echoes, dream in shades of ash.
The prayers we mouthed were cages, not within
Each mercy lost beneath the thunder's crash.
We loved once too—too fierce, too much, too wrong.
We held the good, then watched it turn to dust.
The world moved on. We stayed. We wrote the song
That silence hums when memory betrays trust.
Forgiveness is divine. But not for this.
We kiss the dark, and call it what we miss.
Bio
Joshua Walker is a poet from Oklahoma City whose work blends classical form with emotional nuance. His poems have appeared in independent journals across the U.S., U.K., and Ireland. Writing as "The Last Bard," he explores memory, survival, and the quiet weight of persistence.