Apologies have been made,
plenty of mea culpas, some on our knees,

though asking for forgiveness, it’s said,
is selfish—it’s up to the one who has been

wronged to decide, not the wrong-doer.
Time to stop the self-flagellation,

go outside, take a walk, let go
of what’s been done, which sends us

twirling back into spirals of shame:
How could I? What was I thinking?

But in every footstep, solvitur ambulando—
Saint Augustine was said to have said.

“It is solved by walking”—
the remedy for every mental travail.

And if not solved, soothed.
If not healed, eased.

No small thing, letting go,
essential to going on

peacefully, step after step
after blesséd step.

•••

(“the remedy for every mental travail” is paraphrased
from Bruce Chatwin’s book, “The Songlines” )