Bella
A poem by Lisa Delan


Bella

gentle breaths
my lucent girl
all the years i have
watched you sleep
and here this…

green hair against 
your white pillow like 
snow headed branches,
under weighted lids
your eyes rich soil

i have heard your
breath whisper the
secrets of gravity,
your face an easel
waiting to paint the day

i have sung you to
dreams while the 
earth turned,
when fire encroached
before the rains came –

i have loved you 
in the soft silence
between hours,
entreating hope
to follow you

and shelter you,
formed and formless
as constant as breath,
an arm of branches
green under the snow


About the Author:

Lisa Delan’s poetry has been featured in a broad range of literary publications, and she has received a Pushcart Prize nomination. Her poems have been set to music by several prominent composers, and premiered at Festival Napa Valley in California. When she is not writing, you can find the soprano, and international performer who records for the Pentatone label, singing songs on texts by some of her favorite poets.


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