she is
half-smiling
knees bent, hands tying
the shoelaces of her child
which are damp, for an
unexplained reason that she
prefers not to investigate any further
and her child is laughing
head thrown back,
joyful shouting to the dusty
ceiling of aisle fourteen
the remains of his joy
land softy atop the bread loaves
and settle like snow
icing
making pastry much more enticing
two minutes before, this child
had been screaming
eyes streaming
heart bleeding
for some unforeseen reason
his mother had taken him
into her arms
mid-shop
and asked him to be calm
\"it is okay,
look at me
we do not need to shout
there is nothing to shout about
we are calm\"
and she brushed her fingertips
against the vulnerable flesh of his side
which is when, you see
he threw his head back in laughter
for all he now remembers
there is no before, only after
and the dampness of his cheeks came only
from laughing too hard
she knows how it is
to stop feeling sad
when everything
is sad
she knows how it felt
to be small
in a world that is not
to fall on a playground
and push yourself up
with buckling knees
and palms freshly bleeding
how it is to forget
every other feeling
she would wince as they glittered
with pavement grit
there were horrors in the world
and this was enough of it
she threw back her head
and sobbed
i, much younger
at the time
still had it in me to kneel
pulled myself to the ground
held her hands
helped her understand
tutted in examination
huffed in pretend frustration
to make her smile
and when the tears would not stop
when she said
\"it hurts too much\"
i replied
\"i know it does
it is okay,
look at me
we do not need to shout
there is nothing to shout about
we are calm\"
looped my fingers between
her laces
to stop anymore of those silly falls
and i
do often fall
when my own eyes were damp
and my mouth clamped
trying to be quiet
as i wept
and my love did not know
how much patience was left
he held me close to his chest and said
\"it is okay,
look at me
we do not need to shout
there is nothing to shout about
we are calm\"
we are
generations
all learning
it has always been just as tricky
to be calm
when the world is so loud
but when we
hold hands
across time
look down the line
see how many of us have
used the same words
to soften a shout
console someone we care about
we hold each other
in gentle arms
we are okay
we are calm.
12:01am - 29/05/26 - my window