See this woman at sunrise who watches
the shifting light and shadows
on the curtains of her bedroom window.

The early sun paints the wooden frames
of the small square windowpanes
onto the white linen curtains,

a spreadsheet into which the morning
will set the agenda
for another day of grief and longing,

taking care not to omit
a single bullet point of pain
between alpha and omega.

Behind moving clouds the grid appears
and fades, lights up and vanishes,
the alphabet comes and goes,

the chambers of the unflagging heart
close and open
close and open.

Early Morning is from Eva Bourke’s new collection Tattoos (Dedalus Press)