Lost Songs

by Jack Leonard

"That’s a nice one," I heard you call from the kitchen. That was the last time I sang my true song. I knew that it would be heard, recognised, understood; through the kilometres of my kingdom - down the stairs and through the halls, curling and bubbling like the patterned paper on the walls. Growing up, I realised that my sensitive songs would only be heard by certain some and in desperate hope I sang louder, straining to hear some response in the cruel cacophony; the bough I’d alighted on to shrill and chirrup was hollow and rotten. So, I learned to sing your songs, mutilating my melody to fit the tune. My song has almost gone now.

6S

Jack Leonard lives in Ilkeston, Derbyshire, with his wife and two daughters where he runs nature-connection services and writing workshops in the great outdoors. He's lived in other places too but mainly inside his head. Writing is a way of stopping it from getting too crowded in there. His first published work, Dark Inscription, is available on Kindle. For more, stop by The Lighthouse at the End of the World.