holding out

Alan Finlay

i was a flower closing
in on my own chest.

the earth wore a mask
and it said: "you have cheated me"

my wife too, said:
"you are not the man
i intended to marry."

i said: "i will wash the dishes
– just not now"

The earth said:
"Not everything is on your own terms."
It repeated its snow.

It said: "you have hunted
freedom, and now you must
scale the fish."

I said: "it is being told
to do this, why i cannot
walk." I said, my despair
is deeper than your rivers,
your rivers cannot hold me.

It said
the currents are strong,
stronger than any man.

I said: the river does
not know my name and has
forgotten how to weep.

It said: then you are not flowing.
It said: you are holding out
you are lasting, you are not flowing

First published in New Coin

LitNet: 25 April 2006

Click here to read more poetry by Alan Finlay

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