Pleading Ignorance (Poetry)

Out of sight but seldom out of mind
gone but not forgotten though I try
to use whatever method I can find
to block such thoughts — distract with reasons why
I shouldn’t dwell or let myself obsess
dig up the past and give these ghosts free rein
it fosters gloom — creates morbid distress
that oubliette might swallow me again

Why do they haunt — torment me as I sleep?
I wish they’d rest in peace and let me be
What unknown wrong once sown do I now reap?
that question burns and nags repeatedly

My slim defence suggests somebody lied
the answer buried with them when they died