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Soldier Boy

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I caught you. In the dark lanes,

on the highway

courageously following

the signs of Armageddon.

You will go two years

to war, digesting

voicelessly the echoes of filthy battles.

Games. The distance will cost more

than memories, and when the seven-storey castle

crumbles, tell me, my lover,

who will address your fresh

baby-burned hands? Who will hold your

honey-jar, lick it with wild, devoted intent?

Or place your medals

on the mantle and embrace you faithfully

nude?

I am suffering like a sparrow

starring at spring massacred

but the stiff towers.

There are pebbles on the runway piled up like a great stone.

I am missing the means to confront this distress.

The hour glass has turned on its side. Can you help me?

 

We are identical, destined as one,

making love under a mute sky

while twilight still glows guiltlessly

in subtle glory.

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Copyright © 1991 by Allison Grayhurst

amazon.com/author/allisongrayhurst

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First published in “Poetry WLU- The Erratic Edition, Volume XXI” Spring/Summer 1991

Published under the pseudonym “Jocelyn Kain” aka Allison Grayhurst

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You can listen to the poem by clicking below:

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“Grayhurst’s rapturous outpouring of imagery makes her poems easily enjoyable … Like a sear the poet seeks to fathom sensual and spiritual experience through the images of a dream.” Canadian Literature

 “Allison Grayhurst’s Common Dream is a massive book by a talented and enthusiastic young writer, with a feel for descriptive, meaningful verse. Philosophical and very deep,” Paul Rance, editor of Eastern Rainbow, U.K.,  spring 1993.

“Her poems read like the journal entries of a mystic – perhaps that what they are. They are abstract and vivid, like a dreamy manifestation of soul. This is the best way, in prose, one can describe the music which is … the poetry of Allison Grayhurst,” Blaise Wigglesworth Oh! Magazine

“Rich images and complex, shifting metaphors drive Allison Grayhurst’s poems. She focuses on sexual love and interior landscapes, widening to include the heart, eternity and all.”  Next Exit

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