Forgiveness

[Richard]

Hey Duke,
I'm not a huge rhymer, so I'll try not to comment on that aspect of the poem. However, I do like what you're trying for here. I'll go into more detail below:

Forgiveness -This word is used throughout the poem, so I would suggest a different title. It's just too much repetition having it as the title as well.

Forgiveness is the difficultest state
of mind to enter with sincerity—
but none's more needful, dissipating hate:
contrition's naught, forgiveness verity.
Apology can help:  it soothes a sting -I would suggest starting the poem here. To me, the beginning is too generalized, where as the word "Apology" brings to mind some imagery.
of felt injustice, disrespect perceived— -I know "felt injustice" is there for rhythm. It just doesn't sound right to me.
but begging for indulgence cannot bring
release, unless forgiveness is received.
Still harder is a case where some will not
apologize because they stand accused
of what their grandsires did, or their race wrought, -"grandsires" seems like a old-fashion word to me. 
who rightly feel their present selves abused. -I feel like focusing on a specific example to support this idea of past wrongs would strengthen it immensely.
But there, relenting's trouble isn't lack
of true confession, but that letting go
of vengeful motivations for attack
would leave a void—snuff out a warming glow. -The "warming glow" image could be explored more.
And this is why forgiveness benefits  -I like personifying forgiveness. I just feel like you could go into more detail with it.
not each recipient but its free donor
whose soul it liberates from ancient writs -Who owns the soul referred to in this poem? This is a point that could be explained more.
to daily live in unforced peace and honor.

The more I worked on this critique, the more I realized how I truly felt about this piece. I do think you have a good idea here. However, I think you're a bit bogged down by the rhyme and rhythm, so my main suggestion would be to rewrite this as a free verse poem. Even if you decide to go back to rhyming and meter after that, I think rewriting it first without those constraints would help you focus in on exactly what you want to say here. Feel free to ignore this advice because I tend to lean more towards free verse than traditional verse. I feel like I was a bit all over the place with this critique, so I hope I said something helpful in here.

Cheers,
Richard