AS IF SHE WAS MY WIFE Poem by Jan Glas

I found her half-frozen.
All winter she'd been waiting for the geese.
I took her in as if she was my wife.

Once inside she put plastic bags
round her dirty feet.
‘Oh, there's really no need to do that,' I said.
Rustling she went over to the fridge.
I went to change my bedclothes.

‘Do you realise
you've escaped from heaven?'
Yes, she realised that.

Upstairs I stood for a moment
at the bedroom window.

The water in the pond, I noticed,
had turned into fish.