William F Dougherty - Paper Cache

A cardboard box of evidence accosts
my craven past, incites a raw review
of those omissions I repent the most:
not what I did, but what I did not do.

A cache of lilac-colored letters tossed
aside show the seasons when I withdrew
from risks of mellow heart—upbraiding ghosts:
not what I did, but what I did not do.

A plotted map and snapshots with dulled gloss
speak slender words I never shared with you:
I stand arraigned for self-inflicted loss,
not for what I did, but what I did not do.

William F Dougherty

http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/paper-cache/