They will tell the story
of how I came to your
sweat soaked bed of delirium
how I picked the rushes off
the floor of your cabin
and wove together a symbol
of eternal love, its vertical
and horizontal arms stretching
up towards the heavens
and down to earth,
across the world
from east to west
this flame of transcendent love
that could never be extinguished.

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Rachael Stanley’s poems have most recently been published in Live Encounters, Flare and Drawn to the light press. She was commended twice in the Francis Ledwidge International Poetry Competition in 2019 and 2022. Her debut collection Back to Infinity was published by Revival Press, Limerick in May 2024. She lives in Dublin.