Past All Harm Poem by Dónall Dempsey

Like ice
the night

cracks open &

we find ourselves
drowning in
our greatest fear.

“I’ve lost my baby! ”
“I’ve lost my baby! ”

you scream hysterically
tearing up tears.

It floats in its bloody sea

of not being born
& of being born

too soon.

Like a little prawn
huddled against this cruelness...

...like a strange stigmata
staining my palm

clenched around
this pain

I clutch this
unloving thing
& climb

the railings of the park
as dark gives way to light

&

morning arrives brokenly

to watch me bury
this little death
under the wild red rose bush.

Blinded by my tears
I stagger all through the years

returning to watch you

flower & bloom
nod your little head

to the wind’s suggestions.

I stand alone
left only these

broken tears

&

the place

where you lay
upon my palm


...past all harm



...past all harm.