She keeps talking about the rape
like there’s nothing else to talk about,
to think about,
like that horrible act
she experienced TWO YEARS back
should be the focus of all our conversations now
like other incidents haven’t occupied anyone’s attention
just a little bit
since then.

She keeps focusing on the rape
and what she could have done differently
like taking a different martial art
or wearing looser clothes
or spending time with another kind of guy.
She asks herself
– and sometimes me –
if the whole thing could have been avoided.

She tortures herself about it.
I beg her not to
to let it drop
that it’s long past
buried deep
and if she’d just stop talking about it
she could stop thinking about it
like I have.

She won’t leave it alone
continuing to beg my forgiveness
even after all this time.
I keep explaining
how there’s no need
any longer.
I’ve forgiven
what she did to me.
It is buried deep
and I’d practically forgotten it.