Poem: Late night tea

PC: Esra Nur Kalay

In the dark of this night

when sleep is an exiled lover

I am visited by familiar guests

Worry, Shame, Loneliness



‘You aren’t doing enough,

being enough, improving enough,

improving the world enough’

they tell me, and I find myself

Agreeing. Submissively nodding.



These old acquaintances

I have always known them

Tolerated them. Obeyed them even.

Tonight, in the place where sleep should be

I summon Trust. Desperately.



It arrives with much reluctance

rubbing its eyes 

and looks at me with exasperation

‘Make friends with them’, it reminds me

as it has a million times before

‘Make friends?’ I protest

As if I have heard this advice for the first time

But I have to trust Trust



So I make some tea and offer it

To Worry, To Shame, To Loneliness

and a cup to Trust too

I sit down next to Trust,

Let out a sigh and listen



They tell me, together, 

in one soft, loving voice

Just be you. 

Let yourself be seen and keep

Being You.