Chrissy Derbyshire Profile Chrissy Derbyshire is a graduate in English Literature from UWales Cardiff, 2005.She recently studied for her PGCE (post-compulsory). Her adopted city is Cardiff. Mysteries (Awen 2008) is her first collection. Read an interview with her here .  HARP Old shapeshifting thing, You still stand there singing my words, Shaped rather like This poem that describes you. Now old as the dust floor, Creaking from within – sounds of an ancient wood – With thick strings loose and curled Like spirals to the centre That is, in the end, a tomb. All flesh there has turned to dust Many years beyond memory. The stone has faded, fallen, Been covered with earth and forgotten, But pluck the timeworn strings And some echoes remain. Now she is pale as a green youth, Trembling with the flowers of first poetry, Tied with merry ribbons And singing out birdsong in gardens. Then I like to dip her in the well And pull her out laughing As the rivulets run down her may-scented body. It harms her not – Just means that she can play water music. More often than not, she does. She is a conch shell strung with the hair of sirens. She sounds with the sound of otherworldly cries, Of fishes leaping into pools And of the mighty storm. O storm-tossed singer! I hold her like a sailor shipwrecked When after months on a barren island This harp washes onto my shore. Though she makes no sound, This driftwood skeleton, Her voice swallowed by the sea, Still I will weep with joy, Run my hand over no strings And play emptiness music to the stars. copyright Chrissy Derbyshire 2009 |