Images by Jorm S (above) and fran_kie (thumbnail) / Shutterstock

Aloft

(Or, The Feathered Tempest)
29 September 2022

Poetry | Grief & Loss | Memory | Change | History


My heart once broke; I heard it not.
It fell in quiet pieces.
Like feathers silent meet the earth
When time the old releases.


Aloft on currents breathless flew,
Like once a winged soul soaring,
No rising storm, alas, it knew –
No thoughts of life outpouring.


At first the skies did whisper low,
The clouds their edges bending.
But darker did the heavens grow,
And fierce the howl unending.


Horizon swallowed deep in night,
A sorrowed parting covered;
And when the sun gave morning light,
No longer winged ones hovered.


Amy Dewhurst


Thank you, Martha, for helping us remember.


Dedicated to the grandmothers, mothers, aunties, sisters, daughters, nieces, friends, and all men of good will who love them and fly alongside: the feathered tempest fighting to be free.  2022