Baby, It's Cold Outside (I.P.)

I kissed you; left you with them.

You clung on tight to my skirt.

They carried you inside – laid you

in a cot, next to all the rest, but you –

the bonniest, by far.

They told you nursery rhymes,

but you couldn’t hear them –

sobbing too much. I held you

close...told you, ‘Goodbye, till

five’. You turned your head away –

that delicious little crown, with

its oh, so soft, soft-spot.

Got halfway down the road, when

your favourite teddy scowled at me

from the back-seat of my car – the one

with an ear – half-chewed; the one

I drove back with to you...

the one made me late.

The little shop where I work

stared me out with ice-blue eyes.

I gave the wrong change – dropped

a box of eggs on the floor. Beneath

my tacky nylon overall, my top –

wet with milk.

At the end of my shift, when I picked

you up – brought you safely home,

fed you, changed you, if I’m honest

with myself, neither of us

was the same.