Come out, come out,
It’s true out here.
Release your grip on tiresome truths
Release your fears which strangle you
Shake off the wrappers, the grime, the dirt
Speak from your heart
It will never hurt.
Mara Juliet Edwards (nee Goodwin) is an artist and poet. She studied at Sunderland gaining a BA hons. (2.1), in Fine Art. Her paintings and drawings are a celebration of colour and an act of praise to the Creator. Mara's poetry is an outcome of a deeply spiritual experience. They are a celebration of new life with a glance at the world through new eyes opened by the Redeemer. I hope you enjoy her work. All work published on this blog is copyright (c) Mara Edwards 2008
Come out, come out,
It’s true out here.
Release your grip on tiresome truths
Release your fears which strangle you
Shake off the wrappers, the grime, the dirt
Speak from your heart
It will never hurt.
How far can this go, this self-righteous deal
The days of danger lingerly stroll like a balancing act
of ice and fire, salt and steel
There’s nothing here for your soul
It spreads out before like poisonous mud
It grips you in and clogs up your blood
There will come a time when we will all have to cry
We will have to cry before we die
Some are dead already they say with a moan
Some moan already they say with the dead
I’m here now down on my hands and my knees
But they would rather be dead than turn their keys
Oh I could howl all night
I could howl at the moon, at the stars and sky
I could howl with you
I could howl into the air
My howling would find no reward
except myself feeling sad
I shall cry but my tears can not be seen
I shall sing but my voice will not be heard
This is a world of iron and steel
This is a world where death is the only word
I am free, so free, yet I still slightly fear.
I can walk this land and yet I don’t see you.
All is so clear and shameless out there,
But here with you it is stained and bitter
Filled with your fear and filled with your want
You don’t see me but you think you do
I know so, you look away with self reassurance
It’s not me you see, you see a face
The one you used to know
How can I be here when I’m not?
I am up there in the stars with the love
And the care of His Hand
This place betrays me
It leaves me dying
I die so badly, I cry free my chains
My chains crash and crash and crash on the floor
And there I float shining pure
I’m free again with my enormously quiet heart
So open to your scathing tongue
I’m free, I’m free, I’m free, yet I
Slightly, ever so slightly fear
How can I go on?
I am a bell full of secrets
I am a sea full of charm
I am the grass so long and caring
I am the river so smooth and daring
I am the streams so shiny and clean
I am the bubbles so fluffy and meek
I am the air so clear and sweet
I am the rocks so great and awesome
I am the soil so bright and burning
Quick, I am off into the night to tell of my tale.
I am half spirit, half woman
I float each hour with miraculous movement
I display twirls with my arms
I flick off air with my lashes
I taste the damp cold breath
I sit open-eyed at the balmy stone air
The light bulb’s glare and the glows which abound.
I sit here like a boulder.
I am pursed up tight.
I can unwind and gush like a river
My limbs can fall like branches through the air
I feel them not
They hang like feathers
Am I alive?
My mouth open wide
My fingers are long, they hold the pen
The pen which writes
Who is writing?
Is this me?
I know not
I am half spirit, half woman.
I see the dots, the splashes, the splots.
I see everything out there.
It all seems to stare and bow down like bells of steel and cold stone and rocking branches, brick and gold.
I see it all.
It rises and rises.
The sky is velvet with a hollow voice
The hollow voice smiles
The voice reaches out
It says fear not
It says, stay true
Follow me and you will make it through
I am half spirit, half woman
If I love I will love all the way through you.
I have finally climbed and climbed,
I have finally dragged myself up,
I have contorted and twisted and squirmed myself free
I have pushed and thumped and wrenched at my cage
I have kicked and shoved the gates open wide
I have shaken every fear inside
I have rattled and rocked my sides down
I have leapt myself out of my skin
At last I see the deadly sin.
God has set me free.
I sit here surrounded by blood and bone
Myself stares out dumbfounded
Straight ahead the carnations sway and
Bow their heads with steady charm
All saying hello and yes, we know
We are each of God’s great secret
The beauty in the elegant leaves
Which stride upwards leaves me crying joy
The only pain I feel is of those not like me.
They hurt me with their words
I shrivel and die like a crying babe
My mouth out-stretched and set wide
And through the pitch of moaning wail
I feel a beam of calm and quiet
All will be alright again
The Hand of He is on my brow
How can I fall? Go on be strong
I can not go on down this road
And yet I must , I can’t turn back
How can I face the daily toil, the blackened face,
The cruel, so cruel heart, the angry lies,
The expecting faces and hungry, grabbing fingers
Stretching out to me?
I am alone
I am vulnerable and quite clean
I can not bare witness to this ugly smog
It makes me coil up and die
I die so badly I make myself pure again
I sit here surrounded by blood and bone
I can not get out, yet I yearn to
I am still
I am empty
I can be nothing
Why must I see your pride and self importance?
Why must I see your ugly side?
How can I be here when I want to be there?
Yet somehow this must be fair.