Who will forgive me for the things I do? <br />With no special legend of God to refer to, <br />With my calm white pedigree, my yankee kin, <br />I think it would be better to be a Jew. <br /> <br />I forgive you for what you did not do. <br />I am impossibly quilty. Unlike you, <br />My Friend, I can not blame my origin <br />With no special legend or God to refer to. <br /> <br />They wear The Crucifix as they are meant to do. <br />Why do their little crosses trouble you? <br />The effigies that I have made are genuine, <br />(I think it would be better to be a Jew). <br /> <br />Watching my mother slowly die I knew <br />My first release. I wish some ancient bugaboo <br />Followed me. But my sin is always my sin. <br />With no special legend or God to refer to. <br /> <br />Who will forgive me for the things I do? <br />To have your reasonable hurt to belong to <br />Might ease my trouble like liquor or aspirin. <br />I think it would be better to be a Jew. <br /> <br />And if I lie, I lie because I love you, <br />Because I am bothered by the things I do, <br />Because your hurt invades my calm white skin: <br />With no special legend or God to refer to, <br />I think it would be better to be a Jew.<br /><br />Anne Sexton<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/my-friend-my-friend/
