Godspeed, fearful heart,
Over all this distance
I can still hear you quiver;
I can still remember
The shiver of your chest against mine
And I would hold you,
But I won’t
For fear of holding you back
And I’d never want to do that,
Godspeed, fearful heart
And hold on to your bones –
Never let them go
No matter how they ache,
No matter how they try
To shake themselves free of your flesh,
No matter how much
You find yourself hating your hands,
No matter what your tongue might do,
No matter how your eyes might quake
And your eyes leak wet,
Do not forget
To hold onto your bones.
Your hands are strong enough.
You held me well enough.
Exceptional. This has probably jumped straight to one of my favourites among your works. I noticed some of your trademark touches (e.g. using adjectives as nouns, like ‘wet’ for tears), but the intensity of the emotion is something I usually fail to pick up on in your poems… but not this one. The final lines leave me chilled and reassured at the same time, which sounds impossible but isn’t. I really do like this poem. Please bump it into your setlist – I’m intrigued to hear how it sounds out loud.
x