The two Gibraltars in the yard
never were delivered.
They have always been there.
The twenty years I lived there
the neighbors never said a word.
Their shrieks would shatter both
if they could see them.
The redwood fence my father built
is tall enough to cover his.
It will be tall enough, he swears,
in time to cover mine.
My father says before he dies
he’ll sell his own Gibraltar
and leave the house, the yard,
the redwood fence to me
to guarantee that I keep mine.
This poem has not been translated into any other language yet.
I would like to translate this poem