Repentance?

I’ll take twenty lashes, wear sackcloth and ashes,
Give away all that I have, for free;
I’ll sigh and I’ll cry, I’ll try and I’ll try,
To make you accept my apology.

I’ll sit in my room, seal it like a tomb,
And spend a year thinking about what I’ve done.
I’ll tell you I’m sorry, I’ll fret and I’ll worry.
I’ll spend five weeks not doing anything fun.

I’ll be really sad for being so bad,
Spend two million years as your personal slave.
You can beat me with sticks, I’ll take forty licks.
You can nag at me, yell at me, rant and rave.

I’ll write fifty times “I must stop these crimes”.
Then you can erase it, make me start again.
Put me in detention, and in-school suspension.
Make me most miserable of all men.

Give me a fine for crossing that line –
I won’t whine, I know it’s just what I get.
Give me all I deserve, and then you’ll observe,
I still haven’t finished saying “Sorry” yet.

I’ll moan and I’ll groan as I sit here alone.
I’ll write a whole book about what I did wrong.
I’ll write all I’ve learned, the sentence I’ve earned,
And why all the punishments must last so long.

I’ll weep in my sorrow from now till tomorrow,
I’ll shave off my hair and go live in a cave;
Ask me whatever, I’ll do it forever –
Anything but change the way I behave.

© John M. Munzer