Only now
that I look out the window
and see no canal

with swans, paddlers
and people on the terrace
do I feel it is real

and I am not a guest
in this house with a staircase
and a strange toilet

Zoe is thinking of friends
a different school
after the holidays

Coco sets urine-marks around the garden
Slipsy is not allowed to go outside yet
and we see ourselves

in Nina, as a teenager
you are away more and more often
on your way to a house like this

There's a lot to do
we toast with old and new
neighbours, toast to our happiness