Eric and Ella will come today,
Bringing backpacks and smiles
winging into this room
and filling each corner
with love and play.
The boy and the girl will
lift spirits and see all
the small things that matter
in waiting and longing
and dreaming and tea.
The doorbell will ring
so they’ll jump to their feet
and race to see who’s
knocking lockdown
and come here to meet.
Baby birds in my head
huddled close in their nest –
sensing feathers arriving
beaks stir from their rest
and open in trust, to greet and to eat.
Leigh Cook
19.1.21
