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Child Unconceived

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Tomorrow may bring you nearer

  to me, but then it may cause

              grief that no instinct nor love could

                          rectify.

If I cannot form the dustgrain of your life

  in my womb, cannot carry

              your limbs within my belly proud

                          and drench my veins

with our combined blood –

(you and I merged for a time, guiltless,

  expressing the earthy essence of God

              with each our individual heartbeats),

                          then be damned my entrails

and this longing

              that drives my impatient summer.

 

  When I see your face for the first time,

              and your father and I behold your

                          living smile, be sure

there will be a depth of welcome

  that no hardship could turn cold

              nor ever diminish.

 

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Copyright © 1998 by Allison Grayhurst

 

amazon.com/author/allisongrayhurst

 

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First published in “Foxglove Journal” March 2017

Child Unconceived – Allison Grayhurst

 

You can listen to this 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.

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Review of The Longing To Be: 

“The contents of Allison Grayhurst’s book The Longing To Be are both personal and universal and are described in such thematic and golden terms that one can see that a lot of thought has gone into each line. The poems are written mostly in free verse throughout, with both rhythm and soul weaved into them. For some poems, the layout seems experimental, and there is definitely a playfulness in the way that the words and verses fall onto the page. Others do conform to a “norm”, whatever that is. All are dramatic and thoughtful. These are layered poems with new horizons presented to the reader in every re-read. The effect is to keep things fresh with poems that constantly surprise in spite, and because of, the number of times being read. I thoroughly recommend The Longing To Be as a poetry book to study carefully and cherish far into the future,” poet Brian Shirra.

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