.

I Found You Singing

.

I found you singing

tight, beneath my skin

like an armful of swallows

or an oak tree conversing with

a squirrel.

I found you pushing your foot

against my ribs when dinner

was late and hope wore thin.

I found you like I found no other,

there, from where no science

can explain, formed with intricate

splendour – a face, a being, a soul

a part of, though unique from my own.

I found you when I was on the sofa-chair

excited to hear your father’s voice,

needing us both from behind the curtain,

somersaulting in your liquid sphere.

I found you after my father’s death,

not sure of my strength to carry this through.

But now you are in me, and I am rocked again

like a butterfly’s wings are rocked

by the summer wind, caressed

by the mystery and miracle of all dreams

so very beautiful.

.

.

Copyright © 1997 by Allison Grayhurst

 

amazon.com/author/allisongrayhurst

.

First published in “Ann Arbor Review”, 2013

http://annarborreview.net/aArborReview_XII/AARPg33.htm

.

You can listen to the poem by clicking below:

.

“Allison Grayhurst intertwines a potent spirituality throughout her work so that each poem is not simply a statement or observation, but a revelation that demands the reader’s personal involvement. Grayhurst’s poetic genius is profound and evident. Her voice is uniquely authentic, undeniable in its dignified vulnerability as it is in its significance,” Kyp Harness, singer/songwriter, author.

“Allison Grayhurst’s poems are like cathedrals witnessing and articulating in unflinching graphic detail the gritty angst and grief of life, while taking it to rare clarity, calm and comfort. Grayhurst’s work is haunting, majestic and cleansing, often leaving one breathless in the wake of its intelligence, hope, faith and love amidst the muck of life. Many of Allison Grayhurst’s poems are simply masterpieces. Grayhurst’s poetry is a lighthouse of intelligent honour… indeed, intelligence rips through her work like white water,” Taylor Jane Green, Registered Spiritual Psychotherapist and author.

.

.