Baby Fog

Week by week, month by month

Her spirit fades, her edge now blunt

She was once a party queen, a champagne girl,

A corporate slick, mingled with the beautiful ones,

Bestowed with cash, endowed with 'it'

What does she do all day?

She washes clothes and stares

Even as he sleeps

Her stomach churns, her heart at lurch

She worries about evil cushions,

A lump hammer on the TV screen,

Deep oceans far away

No-one hears her silent screams

And that small face in the crib

Sometimes so strange, sometimes known

Alone but not alone

She pushes him along, up and down

Fetches bits in town

Does she sleep? She lies awake

She cannot surrender to rest

When so much danger lies in wait

All around are signs, hidden messages

Just for her

Her sister phones to say how blessed she is

Reality bites briefly, only to disperse

Who can lift this curse?

The clock ticks; seconds eat hours eat days

Sunset blinks into dawn

Her friends talk, 'Have you seen her?

Don't bother, she won't return your call.'

'She's a zombie, a faded stranger.'

'I wonder if the boy's in danger?'

And the demons come at dusk

They gather at the windows

When she's home marooned

They need not search for chinks

For she's an open wound

There are no friends now

Just nobodies and foes

They inhabit other worlds

Only the little tablet knows

It keeps her from that line

Perhaps this fog will lift in time

That's what he tells himself

The stranger who comes home

Never knowing what he'll find

'You could get away, the two of you,

A holiday, a long weekend.'

'Are you mad?' she says, aghast,

'I'm not leaving him with them!'

Haltingly this monster will tire

And loosen its dreadful grip

She doesn't see but there is light

At the end of this bad trip

One day spring will come again

She'll see the world in colour

And she'll think, remember when,

I was engulfed in fog but we survived

How lucky we are to be alive!