A Guilt-Free Sorry

“Dear applicant, we’re sorry to say no to you.”
But if no brings sorrow why say it?
Wouldn’t a yes salve your sadness?
Sorry? the word’s lack of nuance nags me,
for it’s such a guilt-free sorry.
Your rejection of my application didn’t use words like
repent, atone, contrite or remorse
for such words imply a sorry of your own doing,
a sorry that screams for undoing.
But there’s no hope of that, is there?
No hope of you including me among you.
You hand me just a perfunctory sorry
and of course an insincere sincerely yours.
You probably forgot about me the moment you mailed that sorry
to “applicant’s address.”
Or maybe you’re still having a condescending laugh over my
application,
and your sorry is really a euphemistic snicker.
But sorry to me is real.
Repent, atone, contrite, are also real,
and I use them now remorselessly.
I repent, atone, and am very contrite
that I applied to you in the first place.
And so I also declare with my deepest guilt-free sorry,
that you have not deigned to elect into your grand collegiums—
me, myself, and I, the one most skilled in crafting the sincerest
sorriest of we’re sorry
to all those pretentious enough to apply for inclusion among your
minions.