The Unveiling

The Unveiling

Clinton Collister

“One word of truth outweighs the whole world.”
— A Russian Proverb

We gather in the field to read the names,
among the ghosts, their claims
of innocence still echo in the cold
their lies and protestations now grown old.
like flames of Easter candles cast
away the shroud that veils the past.
Knit together by their maker
she let the ache of hunger take her
far from the snow and ice and mud
above the firmament to see the blood
in which she died and rose to life.
Her fast, a way to leave the shouts and strife
behind, the others clinging to their hunger.
I see one ghost in coat and hat, younger
than his comrades, with eyes wide in fear
stare out across the field at the frontier.
He takes a drag and tries another plea.
The ghost in charge directs him to the tree.
of death, still marked above the waist.
She kneels and longs for the sweet taste
of milk and honey, as she takes the fall
into the grave, and hears the final call

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Clinton Collister
Poet & Editor

Clinton is a PhD student in Theology and Literature and The University of Cambridge and the founding editor of Little Gidding Press.

Photography by Aron Yigin