The Best Revenge Is That You Have to Live With Yourself
by Valerie Parente

The best revenge
is that you have to live with yourself.
I’ll live my life
and you’ll live the lie you dealt.

I could dream up a million hells that you deserve
but nothing could be worse
to what how you must suffer
when you look in the mirror
and see someone you abhor
oh your face must contort
with a special kind of hurt
masking a frown with a smirk
against the laws of the universe
you made karma your own curse
and you might have wronged me first
but it’s your self hatred that will endure.

I need not implement any punishment,
that’s just the nature of poetic justice.

– Valerie Parente (5-31-2026)