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In League With . . .
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Drive away the battle-weary heart
as the guilt rises like smoke from a cigarette
into a spring afternoon.
It has ended as bones do with time
in earth, cold, as the last maggot clings.
And pride has expanded your belt
as though it were a fetus, growing, demanding
the best of your nourishment.
Carry this on the knee of your cracked imagination
and dispense with your volumes of hurt
done to you by so many hands.
For your tune is repeating, and still your country grows.
Candles and candles to keep alit so your enterprise
of bitterness is warm with stirring.
My eye has overlooked,
and sometimes I ruin my joy
by taking a step on your tiles
so tormented and full of useless fury.
Golden is the calling we were given
but life-determining is the way we sway or twist
to answer it.
And night is not the end.
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Copyright © 2002 by Allison Grayhurst
amazon.com/author/allisongrayhurst
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First published in “Duane’s PoeTree” January 2016
http://duanespoetree.blogspot.ca/2016/01/allison-grayhurst-writes.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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