Kim Whysall-Hammond

We are a gate by which she enters
we accidental gods
we must dance as fast as we can

Fear cannot not take hold of us
we must be furious
hold fast to life, to laughter
to the birdsong that lifts our Sun
to rain that waters and cleanses
to clear streams and bright skies

She is the ghost of things to come
no more black water
no poisons
no hatred
children free of hunger, war and fear

She will set us all free, she is life’s flood

Oh, won’t it be glorious
life resurgent, victorious
we can lie down with the lion and the lamb
clasp hands and paws together
hear the elephants call to victory
the moment is coming

Prepare to love
and finally
to live.

After Rob Green, UK songwriter and positive genius.

Kim Whysall-Hammond is a Londoner who now lives in the English countryside. She worked in climate research and the technical side of telecommunications and is a geek—except she forgets a lot. Her poetry has appeared in Black Nore Review, Dreich, Littoral, and The Martello, as well as magazines in the US and Canada. She also has poems in anthologies from Arachne Press, Brigids Gate Press, Milk and Cake Press, and Palewell Press. She won third prize in the 2023 Dwarf Star Speculative Poetry Award. Her debut
pamphlet, Messages from the Road, was published by Palewell Press in autumn 2024.

This poem appeared in What We Hold On To: Poems of Coping, Connection, and Carrying On — Winter 2026, published by The Chaos Section Poetry Project.  You can read the full collection or download a free PDF of the chapbook here.