I cuckoo, this once loving nest,
and my smiling-blue-eyes
do little to bridge
the frozen wasteland
betwixt now,
and eventual acceptance…
but I sense no devilment,
nor cold, logical side
to your natures…
so ‘Time’,
in all its magical triumph,
is well and truly on my side.
I stretch, and shape-shift,
slightly, and momentarily,
out of my baby-faced bondage,
late at night,
when hearing the snores
brought on by hard day’s labour,
and the worrying puzzlement
of my sudden replacement
of the wee thing which vanished.
The ‘Whys and Wherefores’
are not your concern…
you are warm breastmilk, comfort,
and temporary Caretakers,
of a far more intricate Bigger Picture.
• Author’s Note: The ‘Tylwyth Teg’ are the Fair Folk or Fairies of Wales. They sometimes marry humans, other times steal human babies, leaving a sickly ‘Tylwyth Teg’ baby, which is called a ‘Changeling’ in its place. They are not to be crossed lightly.