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Not a Ghost

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Wide as the wind,

your spirit is around me.

I see your hands on books

and hear your voice as though

it were still your own.

I miss you again like the first day

when Death showed you its secrets.

I remember the love you gave, your

pride and your directness. I want to tell you

the things I have learned are not worth an ounce

of your lost affection, but still I have learned

to sail through this barren sea. I have learned

that I can. A year and half have past

and there is more time still to come.

I have feared this world without you,

but now I know because you were once here

the world will never be without you.

The sidewalks will forever hold your weight, others

will always speak your name with warm admiration,

and I myself am part of you. You are in me

like a main artery, a bloodline that fierce death

can neither dilute nor sever.

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Copyright © 2000 by Allison Grayhurst

amazon.com/author/allisongrayhurst

 

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First published in “Indiana Voice Journal, Issue 10” May 2015 (Originally titled “Legacy II”)

http://www.indianavoicejournal.com/p/blog-page_1367.html

http://www.indianavoicejournal.com/2015/05/indiana-voice-journal-may-2015-issue-10.html

http://www.indianavoicejournal.com/2015/05/allison-grayhurst-three-poems-crystal.html

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You can listen to the poem by clicking below:

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“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.

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