This smoothing truth
silences the petty bean counter
who tallies wrongs
and weighs the price
of full forgiveness

It spills the beans
(shiny and hard,
skidding and bouncing) —
they roll off to find
their ground, their soil,
their splitting and swelling
and becoming

And as for us —
this truth counts us whole,
counts us in.

©Wendy Mulhern
January 14, 2016