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Helena Nelson

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cradle and all

rockabye baby on a tree top -
when the wind blows, the cradle will rock -
when the wind blows the baby wakes up -

and the woman thinks she wakes too
and runs, wind of the western seas, to the top
of the house where the baby is crying

where, where can the baby be? it is lying
under the window in a Moses basket,
its little face framed in a lacy bonnet

and it isn’t crying; it is very very quiet
but she hasn’t fed the baby for a long time
and she lifts the baby into her arms

and the baby smiles, it smiles - look!
but the baby must be hungry
she must find milk for the baby, quick

quick run to the kitchen, milk in the cupboard
quick; but the milk
may be the wrong kind of milk what if

the baby is under seven months old
it has to be special milk, gold top and
when the bough breaks the baby will

quick put the gold top baby down, mix
it and prick it and mark it with B
and put it on the table for baby and

the baby has shrunk - there it is in the cradle
and it’s smaller; it’s half the size, when
when did she last feed the baby? the baby

is shrinking; it’s a quarter of the size,
an eighth, she can hold the baby
in the palm of her hand, it will fall and

quick - catch the baby, it has gone
into a white comma, zipped back
inside her body, gone

and she really wakes up and she listens for the baby
but there is no baby

 

Page(s) 82-83

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