Share Her Bath 1964 Poem by Terry Collett

I walk with Milka
from the farmhouse
to the fence
where we stop
and look across a field

you were sitting cosy
with my mum
while I was upstairs
having a bath
Milka says

well I did ask your mum
if I could go share
your bath with you
but she wasn't keen
on the idea
I say
so sat downstairs
and she entertained me

entertained you Benny?
you make her sound
like a brothel keeper
Milka says frowning

I can't see your mum
as a brothel keeper
I say

how would you know
what a brothel keeper
looks like
unless there is something
you've not told me?
Milka says

I've seen it in films
I say

seen what it films?
she says

brothels and thingys
I say

I think you fancy my mum
more than you do me
Milka says

what do you mean fancy?
I was only having a drink of tea
and a few biscuits with her
and talking with her
I say

that's how it starts
next she'll be steering you
towards the bedroom
while I'm bathing
Milka says

you're jealous
of your own mother
I say

jealous of her?
she's just a middle-age frump
who happens
to be my mother
Milka says her tone icy

just being nice to me
while I waited for you
to come down
after your bath
I say

too nice
I saw the way
she looked at you
while you weren't looking
and tea and biscuits
that's more than Dad gets
when he comes in
from the farm
Milka says

she stares towards the farmhouse
pouting her lips

I say nothing more
for a while and try
and think of her mother
and if she did look at me
while I wasn't looking
but I wouldn't know
if I wasn't looking
but she did have
a nice motherly
sort of breasts
and as she walked
her behind had
a smooth way of moving

it's all in your head
I say to Milka
I am as innocent as a lamb

Milka turns towards me
well be careful
she doesn't cover you
in sauce and eat you then
Milka says
looking at me sadly

baa-baa
I say

she gives a laugh
and I wish I could
have shared her bath.