A faint continuous hiss
pervades all space.
Expansion of the universe,
that’s all they say it is.
Walking home tonight
I cup my hand like a seashell
and make believe
an unbelievable breath.
Almost too far from childhood
for the naked memory to see
with a wishing gesture at the stars
I make them play for me:
as if planets teemed,
as if their people came
in their craft to visit us,
as if passing comets
were carriers of seed,
as if the crystal spheres
were after all in song.
I think I will collapse
these metaphors tonight,
strike out ‘as if’, become
a child again. I wish
to run at last beyond the pace
of any wish, around the cup
of time and space, and come
to the believer’s ground:
a faint continuous song pervades all space.
The universe breathes; the planets teem; their people
come in their craft to visit us; and comets carry
seeds through the profoundest cold and dark.
James Graham was born in 1939 in Ayrshire, Scotland, in a rural cottage lit by oil lamps. He was a teacher for thirty years, but would rather have been a celebrated journalist and best-selling author. His work has appeared in The Dark Horse, Poetry Scotland, and anthologies published by Edinburgh University Press, the Glasgow Centre for Contemporary Arts, the Ragged Raven Press, and others. His second collection, Clairvoyance, was published by Troubador Press in 2007 James is currently a site expert and tutor in verse-writing with the internet writers community Writewords.org.uk.
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6 Responses to “BELIEVER’S GROUND • by James Graham”
Comments
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December 25th, 2011 at 6:03 am
Thank you James.
December 25th, 2011 at 7:56 am
Beautiful.
December 25th, 2011 at 1:25 pm
Wonderful poem, thought-provoking. I especially like the moment the poem turns: “I think I will collapse /
these metaphors tonight, /
strike out ‘as if’, become /
a child again. ”
A very apt choice for today too!
December 25th, 2011 at 8:13 pm
Lovely poem.
December 26th, 2011 at 7:55 am
Excellent, well done!
I like those same lines Kirsty picked out.
December 27th, 2011 at 8:13 am
The hissing in the ear might be more dangerous than the expansion of the universe, but this is a great poem. One experiences it from a mirrored perspective.