Maurya Simon (born December 7, 1950) is an American poet, essayist, and visual artist.
She is the author of ten collections of poetry, including two books that have been nominated for a Pulitzer Prize and a National Book Award. Her most recent volume of poetry is The Wilderness: New and Selected Poems (Red Hen Press, 2018).
THE GIFT
Maurya Simon
This darkness is a rope, not a prison:
hand over hand I haul myself in
to touch your face, to blossom.
My fingers crawl toward heaven
leaving behind whirling shadows;
this darkness is a rope, not a prison.
I follow light through forgotten
canyons and grottos;
I touch your face and I know
that even the sun has a mission:
as it climbs, it grows.
This darkness is a rope, not a prison
not a cell from which I hasten.
Freely, hand over hand I follow
to touch your face, to open and open
like a night-blooming jasmine,
or a well widening with echoes:
this darkness is a rope, not a prison,
I touch your face, I blossom.