The Past

The regrets, shoulds, ought tos
over time accrue and aggregate,
solidify and petrify, expand...
harden.
And as they accumulate,
debris sticking, adhering,
these emotions harden hearts as well.
Minds avoid guilt, shoving it away,
hurling it toward bit players
on the scene, sighing relief
as it adheres...then etch the scene
on psyches as a resentment-replay-device
getting a daily chance to dodge responsibility
by concentrating on scapegoats.
Until the time we make a fearless moral inventory
and turn over the mechanism,
being honest with ourselves, our god
and another human being,
the travesty continues.
But once the 5th Step is truly done,
supplemented by daily 10th Steps,
honesty brings real relief and a chance to learn
we're really not nearly as awful as we always feared
we were.

The blame's not mine!