Milk for adults .
Sudocreme for ouchies.
Almond milk/ unclogged arteries,
Fish to avoid meat š
Chicken- not battery!
Meat for a treatš
Spinach to get your greens
Onions – for everything.
Yoghurt – no added sugars!!
Pampers for dry nights.
Washing pods to fill the lines.
Kitchen wipes to kill bacterial signs.
Baby wipes for a gentle clean.
No more tantrum wipes- my next invention.
She sleeps,
Without tension.
12.5Kgs resting.
Toddler sighs in another declension.
Sleeping,
Breathing,
Small moves.
Crushing Baby Babog underneath.
While
I list
And list
And list.
Unwritten articles
Fuzzy photos
Rejected stories
Failed interviews
Eye contact cringe
Unfolded washing
Wet washing
Unanswered mails
Forgotten friends
Lost thoughts
Unthought thoughts
The stranger in the dark
The tiger at the door
The lion in the wardrobe.
The ouchies
Future lone traveling
Kidnappers
School bullies
Unknown dangers
Known danger
Unknown known dangers
Known unknown dangers…
A spiraling gyre of fear threatens all.
But lying here,
In the bed beside her cot,
I hear her gentle breaths.
She sleeps.
I should be elsewhere. Folding and packing, typing and thinking, cooking and critiquing.
Her even breathing quells an inadequacy that has been rising for days.
I listen
And listen
And listen.
And rest.
But pausing, I wonder what will halt this fear when she is grown up and gone away.
A Thousand Days and Nights in... 