Grace Suffices
After an Observation by Wittgenstein
Does our weight rest on shifting ground
or hang by gold wires from heaven?
We work and sleep, a dreary round
stumbling over shifting ground,
afraid to kick the gray walls down,
faithless to pray: may grace be given
to wrest our weight from shifting ground
and rise on gold wires toward heaven.
Herons on slick river stones
are my emblem. Unafraid of
falling or drowning, they leap into
the air and oar themselves toward home,
doing what I long to do
but lack the beating wings of love.
J.S. Absher has published two full-length books of poetry, Skating Rough Ground (Kelsay Press, 2022) and Mouth Work (St. Andrews University Press), winner of the 2015 Lena Shull Award from the North Carolina Poetry Society. Absher’s poems have won prizes from BYU Studies Quarterly and Dialogue and have recently been published or accepted by The McNeese Review, Triggerfish Critical Review, and Tar River Review. He lives in Raleigh, NC, with his wife, Patti. (www.jsabsherpoetry.com/)
Amethyst Review 