Rearrange the lines so that they form a coherent poem.

We watched it apart, and perhaps that was my mistake,

letting the half-darkness fall over you in the city,

while I traced its spreading hand across the fields,

following the rooks, flying in threes to roost.

But as the sun became quarter, then half moon,

it unlocked in me, and I saw us connected again,

by the day’s slowing to monochrome, by the mid-day midnight breeze

and by the moon’s shadow passing over and between us.

It was, however, just a trick of the light,

as I learnt, on returning and calling you that night;

listening to your voice down the line,

cooled by his presence, eclipsed and clipped.

And then, on going to sleep, the dream –

his shadow falling across your up-looking face –

his shadow, falling across your memory of me.

You currently have 0 lines correct.
What to look for in adjacent lines:
  • dashes often occur in pairs;
  • city or countryside – think about what you would expect to see in the countryside;
  • the same connective used in a sequence;
  • words linked to speaking and listening;
  • repetition.
Do key connectives help you see the logic of the poem – how it moves forward?
What can you now see about the structure of the poem?