SAINT JULIAN PRESS
THOMAS SIMMONS
HOW IT WAS
Night fell by the river. And after,
And before, the same. No one saw
Grey creatures without a name:
They were just there. Then gone.
And then again—but wait—what I want
Is to tell you things you haven’t
Yet seen, which is a way of saying:
Those things will take away your mind.
They will. You know this. That will
We daily summon, counter-animal.
The animal prevails in the small cries
By the river, the chirps of ecstasy
Or fear—think what you will, these words
Are not about a thought. They are the birds
That Jesus made, uncaring, never to alight
Yet lighting here beside me now. The slight
Nuance of a moan or sigh, the little token
Of not-being-witnessed, the unseen.
Night fell by the river. And after,
And before, the same. No one saw
Grey creatures without a name:
They were just there. Then gone.
And then again—but wait—what I want
Is to tell you things you haven’t
Yet seen, which is a way of saying:
Those things will take away your mind.
They will. You know this. That will
We daily summon, counter-animal.
The animal prevails in the small cries
By the river, the chirps of ecstasy
Or fear—think what you will, these words
Are not about a thought. They are the birds
That Jesus made, uncaring, never to alight
Yet lighting here beside me now. The slight
Nuance of a moan or sigh, the little token
Of not-being-witnessed, the unseen.
POEMS from BRING YOUR NIGHTS WITH YOU
BENEDICTION THESE MARRIAGE UNBETROTHED HOW IT WAS BETHLEHEM STAR LIGHT, STAR BRIGHT |
BRING YOUR NIGHTS
WITH YOU by Thomas Simmons
Available
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Volume
One * ISBN-13: 978-1-7320542-0-2. • ISBN: 1-7320542-0-7. *. Library of
Congress Control Number: 2018939161
Volume Two * ISBN-13: 978-1-7320542-1-9 * ISBN:
1-7320542-1-5 * Library of Congress Control Number:
2018939161
Saint Julian Press, Inc. * Houston, TX
77008 * Ron Starbuck ~ Publisher-CEO
Phone: 281-734-8721 * Email: ronstarbuck@saintjulianpress.com * Web: www.saintjulianpress.com