On Returning Home with that Pint of Milk by Michelle Davey

He’d return with a pint of milk with a best before date inked 2010

I’d laugh and ask – What took you so long?

splashing the milk into my tea, chasing away the dark film

that lay there, heavy and cloudy.

I’d run him a bath

we’d sing that song we sung

which accompanied the piping ditty the water tank hummed,

grinning as we found the words again.

We’d sit in that armchair we dragged home,

the one in which if we stayed still long enough

the mice, who had stowed themselves away in the lining,

would inch from, nose twitch by whisker, under our crackling smiles.

He’d look for the TV remote which I never found,

I’d rest my ear to his heart

counting out the rhythm, ensuring there wasn’t a skip,

lulling me away from my decade of uncertain sleep.

The sunlight would chink the slats of the blind,

winking good morning as I’d stretch for his hand

telling myself he’d gone for more milk

as I'd glaze on a smile and boil the kettle for a cup of tea.

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Michelle Davey (she/her) is a radio presenter and writer from London. She blogs as The Cockney in the Countryside and is a mother of 3 and autism advocate. Instagram: @thecockneybloggirl

Twitter: @cockneybloggirl