What Remains

One leaves one's sins unanswered,
However many or few,
However minor or gross.
No one can ever explain
The origins of errors
Without creating errors
That no forgiveness can cleanse.

Sins live outside the sinner,
Their existence dependent
On the sinners that remain,
Older than any of them,
As the atoms of the sun
Are older than any lives
But not in themselves living.