You loved my fool.

The gooseberry bush grew uninvited, yet you took such care of it.

But now you’re gone, I let the thorns etch my skin and hook my flesh.

Yes, you could be prickly at times, but I’d rather you were still here to make me feel alive.

R.H. lives in Nottingham, UK, has several short stories published, and co-founded the Sutton Bonington Campus Creative Writing Group as a staff wellbeing event.