{"id":94150,"date":"2021-06-26T16:59:29","date_gmt":"2021-06-26T20:59:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/?p=94150"},"modified":"2024-06-12T07:27:46","modified_gmt":"2024-06-12T11:27:46","slug":"cold","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/2021\/06\/cold\/","title":{"rendered":"Cold"},"content":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s cold in the barn
\nSo the children play a game
\nLet\u2019s pretend\u2026
\nThere\u2019s sickness in the village<\/em>
\nAnd the fear spreads like a flame<\/em>
\n(That will warm us up).<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s pretend\u2026
\nThat our parents are coming!<\/em>
\nOh no, they\u2019re left behind!<\/em>
\nI hear the miller\u2019s dropping dead!<\/em>
\nI hear the tailor\u2019s blind!<\/em><\/p>\n

Let\u2019s pretend\u2026
\nWe need to collect food now,<\/em>
\nDare we go outside?<\/em>
\nBecause the winter\u2019s creeping in<\/em>
\nAnd now the tailor\u2019s died.<\/em><\/p>\n

Let\u2019s\u2026
\nGo into the forest,<\/em>
\nI\u2019m sure we\u2019ll find food there<\/em>
\nSome berries in the Autumn<\/em>
\nAnd one unlucky hare.<\/em><\/p>\n

Let\u2019s wrap ourselves up warmly<\/em>
\nThe shepherd won\u2019t come back<\/em>
\nThe snow is falling all around<\/em>
\nIt\u2019s burying the track.<\/em><\/p>\n

Wait, what is that knocking?<\/em>
\nNo, don\u2019t open the door!<\/em>
\nToo late, and now the stranger<\/em>
\nIs laying on our floor.<\/em><\/p>\n

Quick, you get him water,<\/em>
\nQuick, you get him food.<\/em>
\nI will bring him straw for warmth<\/em>
\nAnd try to raise his mood.<\/em><\/p>\n

His forehead feels so warm, sister<\/em>
\nHe won\u2019t open his eyes<\/em>
\nThere are black lumps growing on his neck<\/em>
\nThat I don\u2019t recognize.<\/em><\/p>\n

Get back, get back \u2013 we\u2019ll leave him<\/em>
\nNo we can\u2019t! We must!<\/em>
\nWait, brother, was that a cough?<\/em>
\nOh stop fighting, I just<\/em>\u2026
\n…feel\u2026 so\u2026ill.<\/em><\/p>\n

They jump, the barn door opens
\n\u201cKids! We\u2019re back! Hello?
\nWe found a place to park the car\u2026
\nCome on, you lot. Let\u2019s go.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cBlimey, are you guys okay? And who\u2019s that man asleep on the floor?\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s cold in the barn,
\nSo they leave the past behind.
\nIt might be better that way.<\/p>\n

————————————————————————————
\nPoem based on the novel Children of Winter<\/em> by Berlie Doherty.
\n————————————————————————————<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s cold in the barn So the children play a game Let\u2019s pretend\u2026 There\u2019s sickness in the village And the fear spreads like a flame (That will warm us up). Let\u2019s pretend\u2026 That our parents are coming! Oh no, they\u2019re left behind! I hear the…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2314,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-94150","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-marathon-poem"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94150","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2314"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=94150"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94150\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":146166,"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94150\/revisions\/146166"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=94150"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=94150"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=94150"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}