“What You Need to Be Warm” by Neil Gaiman

“What You Need to Be Warm” – Neil Gaiman Reads His Humanistic Poem for Refugees, Composed from a Thousand Definitions of Warmth from Around the World

A century and a half after Walt Whitman wrote, in the middle of a civil war, that “every atom belonging to me as good belongs to you,” Neil Gaiman takes up the question of our shared belonging in a project of uncommon originality.

Frost on the ground that stays in the shadows, waiting for us. Wear a scarf. Wear a coat. Wear a sweater. Wear socks. Wear thick gloves. An infant as she sleeps between us. A tumble of dogs, a kindle of cats and kittens. Come inside. You’re safe now.