The Thorn That Will Not Leave My Flesh

The Thorn That Will Not Leave My Flesh

Stephanie Stampfer

I want to say
I am the burning bush
Aflame with longing
For I don’t know what

I have been set on fire
I am a wound of desire
And my breath is an ache

Until your sweet presence
passes me in the desert
And the air whistles
Your beautiful name

Then I am the smoke that rises
To kiss the air your sweet voice filled,
Like incense

I stretch like folds of linen
Rising in the honeyed breeze
To be your holy tent,
Holding the hallowed ground
On which you tread,
Within the center of myself

I wait
Flaming in love and longing
For you to return to me
And speak another word.

I have pleaded three times
For this thorn
To be taken from my flesh
But my wound does not heal

All my strength is lost in you
And I am weakened by love

Alone in you I feel a buoyancy
And all is perfect.

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Stephanie Stampfer
Poet

Stephanie grew up in the slow Bavarian countryside and is currently based in Vienna, Austria where she is busking with her typewriter and spontaneous poetry. With her project Poem Store Vienna, she has written personal poems for countless strangers and has been featured on FM4 Radio. She teaches workshops in creative writing at ArtCross festival and is currently finishing her master’s degree in psychology at the University of Vienna.

Photography by David Billings