SAINT JULIAN PRESS
THOMAS SIMMONS
BENEDICTION
The things that stay, stay. Those that pass,
Pass. Pointless to cry after them, although we must:
Our nature, after all. No need to make excuse
For what is real. But when we run ourselves
Into the ground, that is the benediction, that taste
Of dirt in the mouth, the sudden damp and chill:
‘Wake up! Wake up!” the earth is crying urgently,
Though not to us, but that is what we hear.
And if we do not wake, whose fault is that?
We were made for sleep. Sleepwalking, we pursue
The real and the unattainable, the antithetical:
Days away from rest, we crave oblivion.
After brief sleep, which scarcely yields, I wake
To the echoed blessing of my kind, the one
When the running man fell and the ground spoke.
I take from that this truth: one voice to match my own.
The things that stay, stay. Those that pass,
Pass. Pointless to cry after them, although we must:
Our nature, after all. No need to make excuse
For what is real. But when we run ourselves
Into the ground, that is the benediction, that taste
Of dirt in the mouth, the sudden damp and chill:
‘Wake up! Wake up!” the earth is crying urgently,
Though not to us, but that is what we hear.
And if we do not wake, whose fault is that?
We were made for sleep. Sleepwalking, we pursue
The real and the unattainable, the antithetical:
Days away from rest, we crave oblivion.
After brief sleep, which scarcely yields, I wake
To the echoed blessing of my kind, the one
When the running man fell and the ground spoke.
I take from that this truth: one voice to match my own.
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POEMS from BRING YOUR NIGHTS WITH YOU
BENEDICTION THESE MARRIAGE UNBETROTHED HOW IT WAS BETHLEHEM STAR LIGHT, STAR BRIGHT |
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BRING YOUR NIGHTS
WITH YOU by Thomas Simmons
Available
Through ~ Ingram Content
Group ~ Amazon ~ Barnes & Noble ~ IndieBound ~ Fine Book
Distributors & Retailers
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
SAINT JULIAN PRESS, INC. © 2022
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As an Amazon Associate — Saint Julian Press, Inc. may earn funds from any qualifying purchases.
This arrangement does help to sustain the press and allow us to publish more books by more authors.