When you open your house
To lovers or kin,
Dust off your patience,
Double up on clean towels.
Scrub down bathrooms
And morals, forget about
Privacy or programs –
Or legends of peace
And quiet from baby
Or the police.
No shouting allowed,
Only whisper instead-
When you say cheese -
Your mouth will squeak
As the smiles evaporate in
Dinners that are late,
Often quite ruined as you
Pretend
That you can-
Be the lover of kin
Or the kin of lovers –
The bed remains undone.
And the lover unfed.
This poem has not been translated into any other language yet.
I would like to translate this poem