It was not a dream.
Into the silk underdress of a country I disappeared

like a moth in fabric, a garment of God
whose hem I followed

forgetting the other world away from here
was crumbling.

I fell in love and said it aloud to no one.
It was in the late morning and I sat in a field of bright-faced poppies.

Then, in the fold of my dress
a feather.

Which meant somewhere else, I could not see,
a pretty creature was flying,

unaware anything had been lost
or anything given.

 

 

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Allison Seay is the recipient of fellowships from the Ruth Lilly Foundation, the NEA, and the Civitella Ranieri Foundation. She is the author of a book of poems, To See the Queen (Persea).