POEM
"Rise up, rise up"
Rise up, rise up,
I say, out of
your grave,
I refuse to
have you buried there
These five & a half years
should be separation only, never
a complete farewell,
& all we’ve learned & thought of
for each other, all we discovered by the terms of
this distance forced upon us
all that we stored up to tell,
to give each other, these words clamoring
between us
all that relief of touching, holding
hands, embraces & half-broken
laughter instead of weeping,
all that is
promised for us still:
how we would
fall upon each other
to make sure
the other’s flesh is there for
touching, what a wealth,
a cornucopia
of pleasure awaits us!
5 & ½ years
of walls between us—& all that blankness
turned upside down!
“Rise up, rise up” from What Are Winds & What Are Waters by Hilda Morley (Kingston, Rhode Island: Moyer Bell Limited, 1993). © 1988 by Hilda Morley. Reprinted by permission of the publisher.
Source: What Are Winds & What Are Waters (Moyer Bell, 1993)
