Semerwater
Open water. Before the crowds come
with their floating crafts and litter –
I prepare myself.
I wait for you to find me, hide
within the scar of a fell, secret
cavern flooded from the hills.
I know you’ve long since stopped believing,
turned away from any God.
Testing yourself instead, how near
to paradise you can get. Think you’ve found it
on my shores. I am not heaven,
but I can be for the time that you are here.
Enter flat dark calm
and settle; teach your mouth a new religion.
Pray to me.
Gill Lambert is a poet and facilitator from West Yorkshire. Her collection Tadaima was published by Yaffle in 2019 and she’s working towards her next one. She runs writing workshops and swims in rivers, lakes and waterfalls. https://www.gilllambert.com/