She lies back

Having checked out.

Mother and daughter

I will never know.

Out of my window

I catch them

Normally at this hour

Mother and son

I smile at the resemblance

Not physically

But the story is the same.

A duty of care

They settle back into the heat and the calm

I watch the ribs rise and sink

I can almost smell their coat

And I want to draw them

It is instant and my breath is with theirs

Pen on paper

Weighted ribs, rest on the ground, I can feel that weight in the relaxed state,

Back legs tucked under and the head struggling to stay  ‘a head’,

Paws with soft pads

My pen begins to draw

Aware the webcam or they may move,

So I look closely,

At them

Not the paper

***

We are extremely grateful to the Third Year Illustration students at Edinburgh College of Art, and Harvey Dingwall for making this collaboration possible. The Citizen Writing Group is part of Citizen, our flagship communities project which is supported by players of People’s Postcode Lottery and through the PLACE Programme (funded by the Scottish Government, City of Edinburgh Council, and the Edinburgh Festivals, and supported and administered by Creative Scotland).