Hibernate
Ellen Clayton
The year you were born in the depths of winter we brought you home our fragile , precious cargo
and hibernated for days
I sat my battered body on a cushion , bleeding and bruised . Holding you to my breast and marvelling
A world turned upside down and a heart ever expanding I hunkered down into so furnishings heating turned up high biscuits in arms reach
Snatching minutes , broken hours of sleep . Our home became a burrow , a place to keep you safe , protected from a suddenly scary world .
And when we ventured out ( the Christmas lights gaudy and blinding ) we blinked like moles emerging into daylight . Everything was different : my skin felt as though a layer had been peeled back ,