The Transit of Venus
An alternate galaxy behind your bolted bedroom door
golden moons and stars, texture the blue night walls
into blue days
Discarded toys in corners, puppets hang forlorn at angles
shadows of more innocent times before
hormones and EMINEM
lose yourself, the music the moment the music the moment
Your body changing against your will
storing secrets and swinging moods
that flash like cosmic storms
Entombed with a pyramid of clothes, shoes, angst
curtains clenched, cocooned from light
and the gravity of adult life
“I know now that everything changes, and it’s usually too quickly.”*
Having children reminds us of the changing nature of ourselves and our world. Before children entered my life, years could go by and I would usually have external events to mark them. Now, years are remembered for my children’s birth or ages, and our experiences together. (And the time before the birth of my first child feels like a thousand years ago!). Their growth seems rapid and shockingly sudden – and my time with them is all the more precious for knowing that.
* © from 'Being Mummy' by Anne‑marie Taplin, published April 2007