Mother’s Bed
In the restless night
when mortality lurks in every shadow
the blanket won’t cover your fear
and morning is a half-forgotten dream
vague and uncertain,
slink into my bed
the pillow holds a mother’s secret
whispered charm
you can sink your head into.
There are no demons here;
no whirlwind of memory and anticipation clouding sleep
only eternal warmth
a shared space
free from the ticking illusion
of time, motion, and change.
Here, where you are always welcome
nothing matters
except this peace
this place
containing every possible now.
in the primeval heat
four billion years
before you opened
one puffy eye
the chemical imbroglio
of our home
shouted your name
from the depths of its seabed
no more miraculous
than the smack of light
against your heaving diaphragm
in the random accident
of your arrival
contingency or collaboration
paternal will or
lucky break
makes no difference
you are life itself
the stunning complexity
of DNA woven
within each cell
culmination of every moment
that gave rise to this one
changing everything
sloppy, sleepy
spontaneous
perfect
your carbon atoms
common as the earth
beneath your first steps
the organised complexity
of your extraordinary
beauty
couldn’t be simpler
as you reach a tentative
hand
towards the future
Magdalena Ball runs The CompulsiveReader. She is the author of the poetry books Repulsion Thrust and Quark Soup, the novel Sleep Before Evening, a nonfiction book The Art of Assessment, and, in collaboration with Carolyn Howard-Johnson, Blooming Red, Cherished Pulse, She Wore Emerald Then, and Imagining the Future. She also runs a radio show, The Compulsive Reader Talks. Find out more about Magdalena at http://www.magdalenaball.com
