Sorry

This was written as a slam poem. I wrote this a year ago and just never stop thinking about it and never got to record it.

Sorry

Adjective

feeling distress, especially through sympathy with someone else's misfortune.

Apology

Noun

a regretful acknowledgment of an offense or failure.

Sorry.

I said sorry.

Accept my, apology.

Apology.

A word.

Sorry

(Beat)

Why won’t you forgive me?

I know I destroyed you and lost your trust, but darling, I said sorry.

I know you took it too far and left cut marks on your arm, but I said sorry.

It’s not my fault no more. Sorry.

Sorry.

An empty word that we were taught was “manners”.

A word that society taught us was polite,

and a word that magically fixes mistakes

and is our excuse to make them again and again.

Sorry.

Go find a textbook, throw it against wall

rip up the pages, set it on fire and watch it burn, when it is finished,

look at the ashes….

pull out your biggest pair of puppy dog eyes and say

…….Sorry.

(beat)

What?

Oh, that’s right, it’s still ashes

because sorry doesn’t undo the damage you inflicted.

Sorry doesn’t fix what is now worthless

Sorry doesn’t do anything

Sorry is a word

just a word

An excuse of your behavior

(beat)

You’re not sorry

For if you were, you wouldn’t have done this to me for the third time,

The fourth time, the fifth time.

Sorry

Now It’s my fault.

I didn’t accept your Apology.

I’m the one who’s the bad guy.

And now you’re paying for it

Paying for something you claimed you never did when just five minutes ago you were saying sorry.

And Now I should feel bad because you’re getting punished

you’re getting punished for hurting me

Sorry

but I don’t give sympathy

Because Sorry is a word

not an action.

(beat)

Someday I may forget what you said, I may forget what you did, but I will never forget the way you made me feel.

(beat)

You want me to forgive you?

Then stop repeating that word, and change your actions.

Sorry is not a word you should need in your vocabulary.

Because if you were sorry….

You wouldn’t have done it in the first place.

…….Sorry.

Author's Note

Definitions are a part of the poem. Bolded words are meant to be emphasized. Beats are pauses or where I would have taken an elongated breath.