RIVER, WASH OVER ME

River, wash over me,

wash away the silt

of crusted memories,

wash out

the clinging crumbs

of yesterday, and last year,

and all the days that I

can't let go of,

try as I might.

River, I lay down here

on your stony bed

and beg of you

to cleanse every dark hollow

inside my head,

every hidden nook

where fear lurks, and every

sour negative is held,

in my tired heart.

I want to be free, River,

to start again,

like there were

no dark days to trip me up

with remembrance.

Like all things past,

are past, and not

an unavoidable pattern,

for future days.

River, let me leave

your banks scoured,

with all my held baggage

left abandoned

on your river bed

like rusty nails,

no longer left to fester,

and hold me back,

from here and now.

©Roisin Duffy

TITLE: RIVER, WASH OVER ME

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