Somewhere along this street, unknown to me,
behind a maze of apple trees and stars,
he rises in the small hours, finds a book
and settles at a window or a desk
to see the morning in, alone for once,
unnamed, unburdened, happy in himself…
—John Burnside, “The Good Neighbour”
published in DRIFTWORK (Cape, 2026)
https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/481482/driftwork-by-burnside-john/9781787336667