Stepping through a threshold
into a harsher light
illuminating pain held onto tight
inside hands
made old with nurture and youthful
from grasping change held onto until
the palms bleed crimson with love,
love betrayed, love altered,
love bought, love sold
and love
flung green and hopeful on stony barren ground.
She goes forward,
a satyr dancing along the wild goat ruts
to the sparkle of the Aegean's music,
she goes forward,
joy singing its susurrating ocean
in her ears, deep in her heart
a whispering liberation snared by ghosts
until she feels her wings pinned
by the stones of her loins, jewels
weighed heavy with love and hope.
She goes forward,
cloaked in the wonder
of the person she has discovered within
her heartache
but where her bared feet press fresh and precious
against the stones
the hard green thorns outstretch
to snag a strand
of her hard-won mantle,
she goes forward,
little realising that her garment
is unravelling
until she stands on a promontory
gazing into the future where
the wind
whispers of her nakedness.
I wrote this poem some years ago for a friend who did not envision finding herself in her late thirties divorced, poorer and the principal caregiver of her two children who were still at primary school. But I suppose no-one would ever enter into marriage or any kind of committed relationship if they could foresee that it would end badly. To her credit, she picked herself up from the wreckage and began to refashion a new and different future for herself and her children.
The poet wishes to acknowledge Valley Micropress in whose pages this poem first appeared.
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