Anne Elvey: lamentation

o murray o murray
break    (bending)
the forgiveness of things

what you    (air and water)
what you     (bread)
the place you lie down

threads of the sheet that covers
as if given     for our breath
drinking     (food in us)

here     this    night’s    morning
things burn out     past giving
(too tired to forgive)

the murray the murray
heavy metal of retreat
a bellow to set the flesh on

edge     a leaching (some things
need to be held back)
the sediment lift

ash of excess
seep spoil bone and flesh
the invisible density

of dissolution     the silent lamentation
of a drowning fish
the o of loss

o murray o murray
a gull and a swan
from different vantage

one skimming squawking
one all dip and glide
and underwater webbed motor

bogged by
drinking    food in you
(given 

for     our breath)
spoils bone and flesh
drowning the word in you

the murray the murray
in the beak of a gull
threads cotton and rice

too tired to forgive
and sea (does it know)
bends and breaks 

ready     to admit
the heavy    (lifted) metal
o murray o murray