It’s hard enough with the sky broad and shining

 as though a hungry blade

in the last grip of God,

but to have you in a dream,

revenant, crawled up from the blue hour

when only the first birds, the furred tongue,

the branches black against sour-milk air,

when only these darkness’s rule-

to have you then and lose you in

that instant of fire

as the world of stink and ache crashes through the dawn,

is worse

than losing you the first time-

 

because it is not you alone

that is leaving

but the dream

that also was you.

Gareth Spark is a writer and artist from the wilds of North Yorkshire. His work has appeared at Out Of The Gutter, Line Zero Shotgun Honey and many more journals and ‘zines. He is currently working on his second novel and will one day make a film for less than £50.