I don't want anything bad to ever happen to you

We were snorkelling in The Bahamas
our hotel breakfast included complimentary half bottles of Champagne
and I remember sitting in the Jacuzzi with you thinking
that we had to make the most of this because in the future
there will be phone-calls,
uncles will be taken ill, friends will move away
maybe your brother will call and say “…it’s mum”
and I will feel helpless

but be outside with the engine running
and driving through the night it will seem like another lifetime
that we were snorkelling in the Bahamas.
I don’t want anything bad to ever happen to you.
When you ran out of teabags last night it made my heart melt
and when you trapped your little finger in the oven door

I felt like I was having an aneurysm.
Your favourite advert was on when you were in the kitchen
I shouted and you ran in, too late
and it spoiled the rest of my evening.
We both know your fish will die,
that you will stand on upturned plugs.
I know there will be mornings when you wake up feeling shitty
that you will have arguments with shop assistants.
You will have to fill out forms, phone solicitors

have injections at the dentists,
our washing machine might break and flood the utility room,
we might be burgled, have a car crash,
because things can’t always be the way they were
when we were snorkelling in the Bahamas
and glugging Champagne from pint glasses.