My Wonder

By Abigail Leigh

---

               Pulled
back,
              this skin reaches—rounding too long the past
corner, it sags.                
Pushed
              forward,                                                                                                            
                           these eyes search—hounding too far the future                     hill
                                                                                                                      they go          blind.
My body rotting—rots
yet declines each offer
to die.
 
Why? Between withered lips, weeping
acquires appetite: only bitter
waters of
              what was,
                           what is,
                                         what if?
But despite the acid ache within
my cracked       chest  
its apathy at brewed breath, I find life
                                                                                  still
                                                                    lifting,                                            
one more from this neglected heart
of weeds—in
                            then out
like fog
              after a promise
of a new day: thick with honey
of sweetened streams and green
undying meadows, lush
with root of revival;
 
for the worn—a whisper of warmth       woven in       wind
 
And I wonder at my wonder’s
              ability to survive
even amidst shadow-steeped days,
what once appeared
a hallowed-out-husk
—the tender bud of my body                                 rising
                                                                    again,
 
toward light.

---

Abigail Leigh is a harpist and poet from Oregon. As a self-proclaimed paradox, both a creative and analytical being, she draws inspiration from life's dichotomies: the belief that light and darkness, growth and decay, and joy and sorrow travel in tandem. Every season has a story to tell, and she writes because she is committed to unveiling truth from learned experiences. Her poetry has been published in Darling Magazine, Black Fox Literary Magazine, Equinox Biannual Journal and Clayjar Review.

Abigail's other work on Foreshadow:
A Deeper Calling (Poetry, October 2022)
The Mountain Sermon (Poetry, October 2022)
The Fruitless Tenant (Poetry, October 2022)
This Side of Heaven (Poetry, November 2022)