Mercy and forgiveness.

Mercy, so says Portia, is twice blest. 

One who gives and one who takes. 

What then, of forgiveness? 

Does it offer solace, to parties two? 

Heart-rending cries rack the soul, 

Upon whose eyes befall a fight's crest. 

Plead with the giver to wrest away his ego, 

Or subdue the taker, to control her rage. 

Maintaining aloofness is to tread on a flower-bed route, 

And to sustain on hope that a simmer settles. 

He who forgives, frets not on a tussle mental. 

She who accepts, awaits and acknowledges follies. 

Mercy, though, indicates an hierarchy. 

Of the giver as dominance, and the taker as subservience. 

Mercy, in excess, gnaws at many a soul. 

Forgiveness, in excess, feeds many a hope. 

Thus offering solace to parties, more than two. 

And so I invalidate Portia’s. 

To pat or to pelt, rests in a reader fair.