Clarissa Aykroyd grew up in Victoria, Canada and studied at the University of Victoria. She has also lived in Dublin and is now a resident of London, UK. Her work has recently appeared in Pre-Raphaelite Poetry II, The Gathering Poem, Shot Glass Journal, And Other Poems and Ink Sweat & Tears. She has been nominated for a 2015 Pushcart Prize by Muse Pie Press. She is the author of a blog about poetry and poets, The Stone and the Star.

Author’s note: The title and the quoted line are taken from Pablo Neruda’s ‘Nothing But Death’/‘Sólo La Muerte’, translated from the Spanish by Robert Bly.