Rising, Finally, From the Reverie
Rising, finally, from the reverie
of his life, the man looked around,
seeing clearly for the first time
the long trail of damaged hearts,
the litany of disappointments,
taking in the bruised landscape,
the fallen trees, the ravaged sky,
and there rose within him,
from an untouched depth,
a bellow, an anguished cry
he let loose into the world
as if it could unmake
what had been made,
as if it could sanctify,
redeem, cleanse, though it
did nothing but meet
a woman’s howl, another man’s
shout, and another and another,
until the whole world clamoured
and kept clamouring,
so many bellows and howls
for the universe to hear,
all the suffering we suffer
and don’t know how to bear.
- © David Adès 2021
David Adès is the author of Mapping the World, the chapbook Only the Questions Are Eternal and most recently Afloat in Light (https://uwap.uwa.edu.au/products/afloat-in-light). In association with Mascara Literary Review, David is a recipient of the 2020 Don Bank Writing Residence (extended into 2021 due to Covid) together with Michelle Cahill, Debbie Lim and Michelle Hamadache.
No comments:
Post a Comment