Stefanie Bennett- A Poem

Stefanie Bennett has published several books of poetry & has poems appear in

Shot Glass Journal, The Provo Canyon Review, Snow Monkey, Dead Snakes,

Ink, Sweat & Tears, Pyrokinection, Galway Review, The Camel Saloon & others.

Of mixed ancestry [Italian/Irish/Paugussett-Shawnee] she was born in Queens-

land, Australia. Stefanie’s latest poetry book “The Vanishing” was published by

Walleah Press [2015] & is available from Walleah, Amazon & Fishpond...

 

 

 

AFTER THE FALL (RE-ISSUE) 2015    

 

And I will love you because

The world never did.

And I will cloak you in syllables

To keep inquiring eyes at bay.

And I will cover our footprints

So daringly

That no-one will ask

                     Ever again

For a sequel to love and loveliness.

 

And you will love me because

The world never did.

Because the gentleness of fortitude

Is a hard act to follow.

And we will scrape up

Our worldly ruins

To begin building this hectare

                           Of the heart

Cupped between the planet’s breast.

 

Know that the quiet

Doctrines

Will be

As fragile

As your face.

 

And the melody – clear

As a single

Birdcall

Across the idioms

Of free space.

 

In a land where

No wall stands,

We will meet and set

Our lives to the order

Of simple things:

 

We will love because

The world never did...

And give back what was

Never taken

When the time comes.

 

 

[following the painting by Charles

Billich. Poem 1st published in

Overland Quarterly Magazine]