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In time the journey
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will display
so many uncertainties, it will be
simply a matter of giving up,
like a sparrow gives in to a strong wind
or a dog to his master’s run.
It will be a ride with no known direction,
no certainty but God and death and God again.
Through hospital wards where children lie
with expectant eyes but cannot move,
there is the nothingness of an unplanned tomorrow, there is
the atmosphere of extreme focus, focused on just holding on.
If it be hard and sudden, or a slow painful release,
death will wrap us in its reptile skin, nurture us
like a foreign enemy just realizing our colossal significance.
Death will be holy and we will recognize it
for the first and only time,
in an instant, understand its language –
bending ourselves completely
into the folds of its natural embrace.
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Copyright © 2008 by Allison Grayhurst
amazon.com/author/allisongrayhurst
First published in “New Mystics” April 2015
http://newmystics.com/lit.html
http://newmystics.com/lit/AllisonGrayhurst.html
Click to access AllisonGrayhurst-Poetry.pdf
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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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Reviews of ‘The Many Lights of Eden’:
“’The Many Lights of Eden’ is a journey: a journey of the heart through youth, anguish, struggle, spiritual awakening, grief, death, love, loss, guilt, struggle, despair, hope, surrender, God, sensuality, imperfection, motherhood, aging, the vanquishing of the devil, indeed, many devils, the inevitable fall from perfection and the casting off of old wineskins for a new one. Perhaps speaking of this book as a chronicle of spiritual maturing would be more accurate, the realization that there is spirituality within imperfection and that handmade temples cannot hope to compete with the spiritual temples within each of us. ‘The Many Lights of Eden’ is a diamond. It is a beautiful collection of insights. Allison Grayhurst’s thoughts and writings are a deep well. Drink from it, for the water is clear and crisp. This collection is a MUST-READ,” Eric M. Vogt, author of Letters to Lara and Paths and Pools to Ponder.
“I have been slow at responding to reviews for Allison Grayhurst due to summer’s busy days, however she brings life to each poem, heart to the images and everyone should have a collection of Grayhurst Poetry,” Ann Johnson-Murphree, poet.
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