Natalie Davies: The Edge of Morning

The Edge of Morning

I look into my ageing waters.
And do not quite recognise myself,
in their reflection.

I am haunted by receding shorelines
I smooth over wrinkled seas,
scrape back storm-felled trees,
into handfuls of forest.

In the bedrock of our home, I watch you sleep.
A question echoes about my core
‘What binds us, in this crater of union?’
Each craven promise, depletes me.

I live in hope, but each sunrise brings,
a shoal of foreign bodies, washed up on my shores.
I have realised, they are the ghosts of you.                           
Once sated, you roam feckless.

In our peak, we were ageless.
Boasting essence of fig and honey-soaked skies.
Our soils, were the remnants of stars.
We nestled, in the hot springs of our youth.

These days, I am scorched earth,
masked by, burnt orange horizons.
I am a tearless cry, simmering into bitter seasons.
We lay ashen; pining for the touch of sylvan shelter.

In tender moments, I remember you.
Only human. Wish to savour early notes, of nectar.
But a wanton scent etches, at our bed once shared.

Now, we are coasting
towards the glacial edge of morning.
I feel you, like time, ticking under my skin.

Everything, is surfacing.
And I am thinking, of leaving you
before you wake.

About the Artist

Natalie Anastasia Davies is a versatile performance poet, facilitator and community worker of Caribbean descent. She often explores themes of cultural identity, inequality, life cycles and the natural environment. This Yorkshire born poet has performed for Apples and Snakes, Extinction Rebellion and Black Voices Matter and facilitates a weekly workshop named People Poetry with award-winning arts organisation Space2.