April 9th Poem - Slippers

SLIPPERS

for Sheridan Smith

My father’s bedroom slippers had labels

that glowed in the dark, rectangles

in the instep of each slipper.  At night

he placed his slippers beside the double bed

shared with my mother.  As a child,

suffering from nightmares,

I’d wake in the middle of the night,

tiptoe like a burglar through the house,

to see those two glowing patches guiding

me to my father’s side of the bed where

I’d curl on the floor, a furtive thing.

We stayed overnight at the house of new friends.

I heard my mother wonder

if I would be able to find them

in this strange house.  After

I woke from the bad dream, I fell

before I found the room with the glowing

slippers and my parents breathing

strongly in the dark.

from Singing Magic by Barbara Alfaro
© Barbara Alfaro