A Scarlet Letter Written by Bloody Hands

To Err is Human, to Forgive Divine

“Come now, and let us reason together, saith the LORD: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.”
Isaiah 1:18, The Holy Bible, King James Version

Following is a poem I penned this morning. The draft is rough and so is the truth - as rough and tumble, as unscripted and unpolished as life itself.

“Come now,” 
Said the Lord to me 
“Let us reason together” 
And the reason he said this
Is plain to see 
For I am an unreasonable man 
Taking my unworthy stand 
On weary feet or bended knee 
“Though your sins be as scarlet” 
My sins are, and that’s a fact 
So deep the scarlet, they’re all but black 
“They shall be as white as snow” 
Like paper not yet written on 
Like sunlight bursting on the Dawn 
“Though they be red like crimson” 
Like the blood in the veins of the living 
“They shall be as wool” 
"All is well that is forgiven," 
Is the logic of the fool 
For I may be as white as cotton 
To God who judges from His Throne 
But nothing forgiven is ever forgotten 
By the sinners I have wronged

Wash me thoroughly from mine iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin.
For I acknowledge my transgressions: and my sin is ever before me.
Psalm 51:2,3 King James Bible

“To err is human, to forgive divine.”
Published in 1711 by Alexander Pope, English Poet

We are told that Alexander Pope was thinking of Ephesians 4:32 when he penned those timeless and, in truth, immortal words.

And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you.
Ephesians 4:32, King James Bible

It is not humanly possible to forgive as God forgives. That takes a superhuman—no, a divine effort. Only God has the power to forgive that way, and only God can empower a human to do so.