Search your heart for any trespass
you might have committed against
your neighbour, weighing each slight
and peccadillo on the scale of the earth
beneath you, then remove the ballasts
of generous deeds from the mass of your
transgressions since they are timid birds
in the mind of your neighbour, flying off
on the wings of forgetfulness to leave
the dead weight of insult behind,
tipping the scale beyond its highest
number. Try next to guess
the number on which the sharp red
needle would settle if the numbers went
that high. Gaze down then if you can
to see how stuck is the needle
on the highest number, which is only
the partial weight of what you feared
was true about the heft of even
the smallest hurt on the scale of earth
that stretches out before you.
deNiord, Chard "From the Curriculum of a Serpent" The Double Truth. Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press, 2011. 28.
