The word resent is from a late 16th-century French word resentir, the prefix re- expressing intensive force, and sentir, the Latin word for to feel.
Somewhere between truth
and the stories we tell ourselves
is memory
Memory has its way
of distorting what happened
into being better or worse
I have a habit of replaying
my life’s most painful moments
re-feeling the resentment
the injustice
For some things cannot be fixed
They can only be borne
and are improved
only through gracious acceptance
of the lessons each event contains
My mother taught me
to take a bite of any food
whether I like it or not
because fussing over what’s put in front of you
not only insults the Maker
it is ungrateful
and guarantees insatiability
You are not a baby
putting everything into your mouth
You have learned the difference
between poison and nectar
parasite and ally
Most of life is lived
between these extremes
and yet
it is no less vivid
Greet each moment
for what it has to offer
and what it might require of you
