.

Interlude

.

Upon the window’s sill

I saw a ghost walking

of a young woman veiled in grief

with sunset hair and moral eyes –

her death drifted to me like

a scent. I called to her, with

overflowing sympathy, but the grave

was now her bed and the enemy-world

was her heart’s betrayal. I saw her sit

then look to the sky, her tormented forehead

glistening as the rain did on the roof’s old shingles.

She spoke three names softly, and over and over their

sound ripped my skull as if the sun itself had entered

to burn all hard-held secrets out.

I loved her like someone I had long known and understood,

watching her, hardly visible

as the rain pushed on.

.

.

Copyright © 2004 by Allison Grayhurst

amazon.com/author/allisongrayhurst

.

First published in “The Screech Owl” and “The Screech Owl – Issue 2”

http://thescreechowl.com/the-apple-tree.html

http://thescreechowl.com/the-owl-loft—store.html

http://www.lulu.com/shop/july-2014/the-screech-owl-issue-2/paperback/product-21709779.html

.

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.

.

.