Witness the lady at dawn, observing the mutable light and shadows on her bedroom curtains through the dim morning light. The rising sun graces her wooden window trims, casting distinct outlines on her pristine linen drapes, much like fields on a spreadsheet. This dawn-dictated grid lays out the tasks for another day filled with sorrow and yearning, ensuring not a single speck of pain, from start to finish, is left unaddressed. The squares of the grid, much akin to the letters of the alphabet, appear and disappear behind the shifting clouds, light up then fade away. The chambers of her tireless heart open and close in a recurring rhythm. “Early Morning” belongs to Eva Bourke’s latest anthology, Tattoos, released by Dedalus Press.