Hungry as we are
For hope
For peace
For rest
We gnaw on the bones
Of fears
Of hurts
Of doubts
And neglect the feast
That awaits us
In breath
In truth
In now
Hungry as we are
For hope
For peace
For rest
We gnaw on the bones
Of fears
Of hurts
Of doubts
And neglect the feast
That awaits us
In breath
In truth
In now
I can hear the birds again
Feel the sun fill up the room
And smell the freshness of the grass
In the dew like April rain
I can feel the words again
In my pen tip quivering
Waiting for awakening
This this this
Is everything
I can feel the pain recede
Slipping down my spine like
Greywater
All the mothers tell their daughters
It will be alright again.
Yes, here inside my wounded head
Resting there above my eyes
Once aching, empty, stonelike, dead
Something something
Gently rise
Years of heart sore, twisting pain
Gives way to birdsong
And to rain
Between my ribs there is a longing
Lilt by lilt, chord by chord,
I hear Gymnopedies revolving
Through my fingers, like fine silt
More and more the voice is calling
The narrator clears her throat
Like a stewardess
In a fresh pressed dress
Like a one-woman show
She smirks. She throws a look.
I know
A pause, and then Gymnopedies
Because it’s playing on repeat
I feel the chords
Inside my hands
Half-listening to her commands
It calms me as she says by rote
How to – in danger – keep afloat
The danger isn’t in the sea
Or in the fire or on the wing
The danger’s in the deafness of
A mind-altering suffering
Or so I thought
Her voice was gone
I could not find it anywhere
Through the sealing of my ears
In the heightened atmosphere
I worried that the pain would end
Forever words that once roamed free
But pain’s a kind of currency
When your trade is poetry
So now with better strength, I stand
And rummage through the pockets of
Five years of grit and overcoats
To find loose change and dental gum
With this, perhaps, I’ll pay my dues
With this, perhaps, I’ll slowly chew
My ears will pop. I’ll hear her rant
As we ascend above the land
And as we slip above the sea
I’ll hum to the Gymnopedies