advent

bare-faced day does not
have much time to dress herself
in yesterday’s light.

afternoon shows her
pale face, low-sun puckering
too soon, lipsticked sky

a bath to lie in,
each hour’s thread frayed, wrinkled small,
wintered, softly kissed

goodnight, again and
again while her children dream
with mistletoe cheeks,

wishing hours shorter
in lists and ribbons, in cards
strung like gilded birds

that can’t fly or sing.
she stays awake late to wrap
innocence into

tiny packages
she knows can’t last long enough
against this darkness.

From Northern Ireland, Olga Dermott-Bond lives in Warwickshire. A former Warwick Poet Laureate, she has been commissioned to write for Poetry on Loan and has had poetry and flash fiction published in a range of magazines, including Rattle Magazine, Paper Swans Press, Magma, and Ink Sweat & Tears. This year she was shortlisted for The Poetry Society’s Primers IV publishing prize, and one of the winners of the BBC Proms Poetry Competition. She is a teacher and has two daughters.