The Option To Forgive

Have you ever had a friend who cuts you with their words? Do you forgive them or end the friendship?

Photo by Ryanwar Hanif on Unsplash

Memories are shared
over a myriad of days,
decades spanned
friends forever and a day.

Attending weddings
mourning loss.
If she hurts, I hurt
and vice versa - I thought.

Where did you go?
Where did you hide?
You vanished into thin air!
Are you Dr. Jekyll or Mr. Hyde?

Like a soft mist
upon the green grass at dawn
are the words of a friend
full of compassion, full of love.

But you are a foe
despite the ties that bind.
Your words are arrows
while you appear sublime.

The warmth of Spring
melts the ice of winter away
as flowers emerge
in a colourful display.

As your surface melts
I only see green
an absence of pretty colours
a monotone scene.

Jealous through and through
a serpent’s heart, forked tongue
spewing harsh words
I become undone.

Full of regret
I ever trusted you, so -
filling my heart with sadness
upon my misfortune, she glows.

It is here I step back
considering her frame.
”What has she been through?”
”Who has caused her pain?”

“Would she hurt me on purpose?”
”Is she having a bad day?”
We have been friends for too long
to throw a friendship away.

As the scales of justice
weigh right and wrong
maybe I should consider
the frailty of the tongue.

Being imperfect as well
and sometimes wrong -
May God have mercy upon me.
May God have mercy upon us all.

A poem by Laney Mills exploring the complexity of forgiveness within friendship.

COPYRIGHT 2026
laneyswords.substack.com & Medium.com/@laneyswords

A poem by Laney Mills about the sadness we feel once we see the hidden colours of a longtime friend.

COPYRIGHT2026

laneyswords.substack.com