aftertaste

"Bitterness is like cancer. It eats upon the host.
But anger is like fire. It burns it all clean."
-Maya Angelou 

the taste in my mouth that comes after being wrongly accused by those who would bear me false witness is horrible and gangrenous

I forgive those who would conclude or consider that my son’s illness is all in his head, or worse yet, that I somehow deliberately sickened my son

but I shall never forget that awful aftertaste in my mouth, hard though I might try to swallow…

or the faces of our accusers, though my tears blink to wash their memories away