Teach me to forgive

As we progress through these ten days of teshuvah, of re-turning to the Wholeness that we are , I offer this prayer-poem. It burst through this morning during my prayer and meditation time. Perhaps it will resonate with you and support your own work of return in this awesome season.


Adon Ha-S’likhot
Master of Pardonings,
teach me to forgive--
to forgive myself,
to forgive You,
to forgive those who have hurt me
in the name of ignorance, mindlessness,
certainty, rigidity,
even righteousness and justice,
even love;
to forgive the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune,
to forgive nature, human and otherwise,
personal and impersonal,
majestic and petty;
to forgive death,
to forgive You,
to forgive myself--
to forgive it all,
so that I may open to life,
living-and-dying as it is,
flowing through me
carrying it all along,
a great river of living-and-dying,
a mighty stream of birthing-and-dying,
a towering wave of living-and-dying.
Holy Merciful one
Ba’al Ha-Rakhamim,
teach me to forgive.

           —R. Diane Elliot, Aseret Y’mei Hat’shuvah, 5776