I will make my way across the water

. 

 .

I will push my way

through the threshold,

bend over the edge then

let myself go – gravity,

mudslides and rock edges

will dictate my descent, but

I will look up and witness

the starlings amongst the sparrows,

the dislodged grass sprouts that take

the fall with me, above me

in gentle wave-like motions

with the wind.

 

These limbs will crash,

be cut from their flesh, and I will break

only to be reborn, a sapling, myself

graced with lifetimes of memories, stretching

my stem gradually into the light.

 

In time, animals will flourish under

my shaded canopy, and lovers

will carve their initials into my skin,

promising one another their exclusive eternity.

 

I will make my way across the water,

over the threshold and fall

to embrace the ground I came from.

 

Spread low, spread high – a century

or more guardian, a tree-fort reaper in a forest

far across the hill and still

beyond.

.

.

Copyright © 2017 by Allison Grayhurst

amazon.com/author/allisongrayhurst

.

.

First published in “Random Poem Tree” February 2017

https://randompoemtree.wordpress.com/2017/02/26/i-will-make-my-way-across-the-water-by-allison-grayhurst/

.

Published in  “JD DeHart – Reading and Literature Resources” August 2017

.

http://dehartreadingandlitresources.blogspot.ca/2017/08/three-questions-with-author-allison.html

.

You can listen to the poem by clicking below:

 

.

.