Don't move the goalposts.
Leave them as they are.

Well, maybe this much wider.
Now you've gone too far.

In a bit more. Stop.
OK, that'll do.

When Harry went away
he stole a part of Mum.
No-one warned us. 
No-one said.
We looked and looked for ages – 

Once everything was big
and you were small,
but year after year your shadow 
crept up the wall 
and you grew tall.

I told a whopper, a fib, a lie.
Slipped out of my mouth. It was slimy, sly.

Save me, it hissed. A secret must hide.
So I opened my bag and it slithered inside.

My Gran was a Caribbean lady
As Caribbean as could be
She came across to visit us
In Shoreham by the sea.

In our flat
faces speak
of places across the sea.

In our flat
voices walk in
talking, but not like me.

A queen in a palace, slumped on a throne,
Surrounded by servants but all alone.
Heavy with handshakes, bunches of flowers,
jewels, crowns, grinning for hours.

Guess what, Thinker?

Tomorrow is Pets' Day at school,

and you can go.

You won't be the only one,

we're going to have a lot 

of fun.

You won't talk,