River – songs from the poetry of Allison Grayhurst
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The Poem:
Beyond The Grave
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If all the seeds fell like blood
or blood like seeds into
the ravenous earth and time
was a wagging tail in the dark
then I would know that death would come
by any reason and be a blessing
all on its own. But as it is, death is
the hollow spot of the living – some with
grief and others with fear, and me myself,
it is memory that unbuttons the flesh of my chest
to leave me poked and burning.
It is the hill I climb and stumble
down its rocky incline whenever I return
if only once a day
to meet death’s stalking eyes.
It is not my heart that fails me,
but the things outside
like the shadow on the neighbours’ window
and the frightening madness of so many strangers.
It is here and there like an insect
on my wall, like the fatherly love
I’ll never find again in another’s eyes,
but is with me in the coming autumn air,
and in the quietude of these joy-filled days.
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Copyright © 2002 by Allison Grayhurst
amazon.com/author/allisongrayhurst
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First published in “Veil – Journal of Darker Musings”
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Ground Bird Flown
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Layers of clear
rainbow shine guide
you through the pyramid portal into
open air revelation.
Joy on a stick, in your soft eyes,
closed in death, with permanent grace.
For all the gifts your gave,
daily miracles, flutterings,
vocalizations, accumulating in song.
For your fragile vessel, energy octave
higher than us wingless dwellers.
Your fearless power streaked
into the lining of your feathered coat,
patterned gold thick veins
washed in sparkling sand.
Beautiful Sage of the flowerbed gardens,
the blueberry, the hempseed swallow,
fearless messenger, angelic power
bound in a small body, you were
loved completely for everything
that you were, gave,
held lifeforce for. You were
soft, demanding and rich
with good humour
stretching, expanding
higher, wider, wings aflare, lifting
in pure vibrant dance, puffed and proud,
your freedom actualized, raised
only inches off the ground.
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Copyright © 2017 by Allison Grayhurst
amazon.com/author/allisongrayhurst
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Sage (….-2017)
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Published in “Synchronized Chaos” October 2017
Synchronized Chaos October 2017: Charting Your Course on a Changing Sea
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You can listen to the poem by clicking below:
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