Mistaken
My guilt comes in mournful vision
As a conquest of conscience
Leaving behind bleeding confidence
Strewn throughout my mind – the war-torn land,
Stained in backlashed crimson of my wounds,
Wrought by self-infliction’s whip in hand
Unthinking, unfeeling decisions I have taken
Love from fond faces in want of healing I’ve forsaken
I dare not say I was simply mistaken
Beating flags, left ominous the effigies of consequence
Heralding in deafening thoughts of regret, thoughts that beget
Reflection upon this victory bitterly won
By victor, by tempter ruthless in conquest of conscience
I am partly to blame for bloodshed of
Rash actions taken by way of imprudence
For actions I made thoughtlessly when the fight in me was done
And took its leave so cowardly under temptation’s gun
Unthinking, unfeeling decisions I have taken
Love from fond faces in want of healing I’ve forsaken
I dare not say I was simply mistaken
This battle is lost and my guilt accosts me
As the victor’s flags rattle and furiously prattle
Telling me well the costly aftermath
In loss of life once without trouble
Now swelling from the rubble
The shame of a fool’s disgrace
Nothing braced me for acknowledging
The love I had forsaken in numbers of tears quaking
Tears from fond faces breaking from the grief of
The unthinking, the unfeeling decisions I had taken
I dare not say I was simply mistaken
No excuses will allay my abuses
Forgive me for your trust’s misuses
Stricken to the core of me,
Sickened by the fond faces breaking I see
Liberties I unjustly have taken
I dare not say I was simply mistaken
In this poem, I took the path of empathizing with someone who has betrayed his/her family in some way. The speaker is reflecting on the guilt he/she feels.