What is
What is the end
but a decision made
on a balcony, in a storm,
in solitude – evoking the
eternal and finite as one, in one
swift movement?
What is peace
but a landscape
with satellite trees and a warm moon
caressing the grasslands and the river
beside the grasslands humming
the electric-nerve sound
of its existence?
What is the beginning
but emptiness
after a flood or a fire, giving back
to God what has always been God’s
and then standing, maybe stepping,
free and unprotected from gravity
and from time?
What is it now
to watch my mother changing,
deteriorating, needing more and more,
hurting more and more?
To be privileged to love her, to be
her sun and star and the daughter
her great soul deserves as it readies
to depart, as it takes this journey –
pitching clear one minute and confused
the next, underlining the creases in books,
reading out loud the words of our Jesus –
grace so grand and divine, it is terrifying
for both of us, knowing what is ahead,
trusting that great love to carry her
mercifully, and even tenderly,
through that final door.
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Copyright © 2024 by Allison Grayhurst
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First published in “Raven Cage Zine” March 2024
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1KziCD-bCLEHpu7HuqF-ipNutR-5Bf_Gx/view?pli=1
https://allisongrayhurst.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/RavenCageZine88.pdf
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You can listen to the poem by clicking below:
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