20160122.0616

Have I said that I love my wife
Because I love my wife
And I have loved her enough
To change

Not just the changes
That happen
In time
Growing grayer
Growing paunchy
Paunchier
Hell, just fat
Growing more comfortable
But others

My world is smaller
In some ways
I go out less
Why do I need to?
What I need
Is at home

But if it covers less area
It goes deeper
Digging down to strata
Unseen in years
If ever

And I have changed
To be sure

I do things I did not do
Not because of reward
But because they need to be done
And she ought not to have always to do them

And I do make the small contacts
The phone calls and cards

And even if my ego is fragile
And it is
Because reasons
I try not to ask her to salve it
At least, not often
And I work to salve hers, as well
Partly through small gestures
The text message at work
The note on her pillow
Rubbing feet, even when they smell
(And, to be honest,
Feet that have been shod
And standing
Smell)
And partly
Through listening

When I ask
And she says
I act on what she says

And I do it
Because I love my wife