This is kind of a cross between a poem and a rant, but it really doesn’t qualify as a story, so I put it in the poetry section. I hope you like it.

Criminal

I confess

My crime:

Only something men, women, and children have been guilty of since creation

Something that has brought great leaders to their downfall and caused others to rise through the hierarchy

And yet

I am persecuted for doing what has been done for millennia

I guess I shouldn’t be surprised

Others have been convicted of the same

I shall go now to the gallows, the guillotine, the chopping block – my punishment

My greatest crime,

The one they are persecuting me for,

Is that I

Was human

I acted with emotion

I was jealous

I was angry

I was proud

I was greedy

I was slothful

I was gluttonous

I was lustful

I have felt, but I do not feel remorse for doing so

I have sinned, but do not forgive me

I do not want to be forgiven

Not by you

I do not feel enmity toward you who have sent me to my demise

Instead, I give you my pity

For no amount of revenge I could have on you would be more painful than when you turn on one another. When no one is left to be victimized by you, you will persecute each other. Your lack of trust will be your downfall.

So I pity you, for I was aware of the power of emotion

I was aware you would destroy me if I felt

I pity you because you are not aware

Because you have no idea of your destruction

Because you have no idea how badly you will be crushed when you have to more scapegoats to kill and you must turn on each other rather than admit you are capable of emotion

I may have committed a crime, but you are the ones who will pay

Aradia-Eris-Maeve

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