Some were spent in darkness –

rising before the sun had pulled the sheets

from its slumbersome form.

Some were left to wane

and cast long shadows as light

poured in pinpricks through the net curtains.

Some were spent in the cold –

9 am and secret;

wandering along old cobblestones

to grass glazed with frost

to find a seat between the fallen leaves.

And many were spent alone

as I began to learn how to balance

beginnings with an end,

and how solitude and loneliness

are not the same thing

but Irish twins born of absence and loss.

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Poem: © Kristiana Reed 2019

Between the Trees UK

Between the Trees US

Available internationally