“Blythburgh”

for Eleanor

There is the place where I would stand,
outstretched hand sunk into a column
of pure, saturated prayer. For once
not worrying about following another’s
rhythm, for you were waiting where the light
streaming through the clerestory windows
was the natural element of angels poised
to swan-dive. There outstretched, where
for a moment I could breathe underwater.

Clare Bryden “Blythburgh”, Theology, Volume 128, Issue 3, 23 May 2025.
Poetry. (2025). Theology, 128(3), 207-210. https://doi.org/10.1177/0040571X251335515 (Original work published 2025)