Cursed Memory — Summary

People say to forgive and forget, I always I wondered why, To forgive someone who's wronged you, To forget the deed they committed, What is the point? Do they believe that to forget and forgive will make their life better? Or that it will be easier to bear the pain and loss? To remain stoic to the suffering they've had, To pretend it never happened, Is worse than recalling the pain. It will always follow you, Always remind you, To pretend it is gone, To ignore it's existence, Will only deepen the wound. My parents are dead, They were wrongfully killed, To forget they're not here, To forgive the ones who wronged me, Is unthinkable and cruel. It will only make the joy return, Only give temporary relief, To give a false sense of security, To make you unsuspecting, So you don't learn from the past. Bad things happen for that is life, It disgusts me that people try, To forget their sorrows, To ignore the impurities of this world, These days snow isn't even pure anymore. People die, But the ones around them forget, To forget their existence is, To say that younever cared for them, Why can't others respect the dead? They wish joy and happiness upon themselves, They want to be surrounded by bliss, To be forever joyful, To be eternally happy, Is scary. They loose themselves, In their dreams and forget, To pay respects for those gone, To listen to those still among us, I will never be as cruel ad to do that. I don't want my wounds to heal from the power of time, Sometimes pain and suffering can help you, It proves that you are alive, And that you are not numb, And remembering it can help you prepare for the future. I will not forget my parents' death, Or the one responsible for it, Remembering the wrongs done toward you, Can help you grow strong and stand on your own two feet, I will keep my sense and remember those dear to me, For that is something we humans can do.

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Heather Moczydlowski's speaker pushes back against the common advice to "forgive and forget." Where others see healing, the speaker sees a kind of betrayal. Forgetting pain, they argue, only deepens the wound, and pretending a loss never happened is worse than facing it. The speaker says their parents were wrongfully killed, so forgiving the people responsible feels "unthinkable and cruel."

The mood is stubborn, bitter and grieving. The speaker is disgusted by people who chase constant happiness and lose themselves in dreams, and the line about snow no longer being pure shows a world that feels stained. Yet the ending is not only anger. Pain is described as proof of being alive and not numb, and remembering as a way to grow strong and stand on your own. Memory becomes a duty to the dead and a source of strength, which makes the "cursed" title feel double-edged: a burden, but one the speaker chooses to carry.

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