'The Strangest Happiness' By Pippa Little

The Strangest Happiness

By Pippa Little

Though we have no new words

for this time of illness in remission

we go by the weight of your hand upon my shoulder

and this is the strangest happiness:

no longer expecting anything more than

morning glories in the hedgerow, birdsong,

coffee hot and strong, some days life

feels very much the same

this way. Everything simple and separate now,

a shaft of sun across the floor. We are in love

again, and very young, and kind

with one another.

Pippa Little was awarded first prize with this poem for the Aryamati Poetry Prize 2019. Thank you Pippa for showing us hope and strength in the face of adversity and pain.