To Go Safely Home by Madeleine Goode

To Go Safely Home

by Madeleine Goode 

Maybe Sarah enjoyed walking.

It is lovely, isn’t it? to welcome

the spring night into the lungs,

and to file away all the day’s thoughts,

not to rush or make small talk with the cabbie you could call,

but to mingle a little longer among a world quietly sleeping.

It is allowed

that Sarah Everard

took the well-lit way to bed 

because perhaps she liked the freshness of the

air

and the alive feeling

of putting one foot in front of the other

towards the door that fits the key.

If she had been allowed to return

home

Sarah might have pushed off the shoes she walked in

wearily and with a little annoyance at the lateness of the hour

before climbing the stairs and resting warmly. 

It is enough

that Sarah wanted to walk.

To take her time through the night.

To go safely home. 

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Written by Maddie Goode

Madeleine Goode is a writer, tutor and barista from Manchester. She can be found cute-wrestling any dog she sees, watering her houseplant collection or making cheap jokes on Twitter. She likes to write about current affairs, neoliberalism and feminism, as well as poetry and journal entries. You can find her personal site at www.seizeyourlife.blog; on Instagram she is @goode_poetry