A Nugget of very Real Magic in Suburbia

Stepping soft in silent
slippers
down the stairs
“Had he come?”
I ask
I wonder

The excitement
seemed to be literally hanging
in the pockets of my dressing gown
brothers
tired and older
hanging back
Dad
getting a shirt on somewhere
Mum
the ringleader
orchestrator of it all
warm
with wide smile

It was her
- of course it was!
it was her
who had left the excitement
in the pockets of my bed clothes
and
even now as an adult
I cannot
step downstairs at night
without recalling that sense
of very real magic
hidden
in the stillness
of a dark suburban home