Do you see him?
Hermit?
In the eyes of your cat?
Did you feel her?
Hermit?
When you sunk into your own deep duvet warmth?
Was hermit there when you met the lichen-covered Hawthorne alone in the field, knowing they once knew a hedgerow.
When you dropped the letter you knew would receive no reply into the post box.
When you walked away from the weekly meeting place that had sheltered you, until it couldn’t.
When you were inconsolable and totally free to begin again, all at once.
Do you recognise them now?
The other hermits?
In their capacity for reflection and self containment?
Their enjoyment of time alone?
Their visible cracks and shards and edges.
This is sometimes serenity
sometimes heartbreak,
Found in solitude.
Hermit can meet you there.
©Samantha Taroni 2024
If you would like to walk with hermit a little bit more you might enjoy this longer piece.
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