‘The Bonniest Companie’, cover art in progress:Olivia Lomenech Gill

Blossom: A poem by Kathleen Jamie

	There’s this life and no hereafter —
			I’m sure of that
	but still  I dither, waiting
	for my laggard soul
	to leap at the world’s touch.

	How many May dawns
			have I slept right through,
	the trees courageous with blossom?
	Let me number them….

	I shall be weighed in the balance
                                   	 and found wanting.
	I shall reckon for less
		      	 than an apple pip. 

Taken from the collection ‘The Bonniest Companie’, published on 8 October by Picador. Available to preorder now in the Caught by the River shop.