Scene II
One prepares a pot of morning coffee
For the other, who just wants a cup of tea
Later on, she pulls a steaming
Tray of cinnamon crusted muffins
From the oven for the person
Who’d give anything for a plate
Of fried eggs and bacon
As for him, he’s busy arranging
A trip to the mountains for the girl
Who never told a soul
About her dizzying fear of heights
Let’s clean the kitchen, she says
To the man who came from dirt
Do you know how much I love you?
Is parried by a nodding assent
From the man who believes
Love ought to be hoarded
Like bars of gold in Fort Knox
In order to ever feel safe
So he goes outside to weed
The mulch of all that doesn’t belong
For a woman idly daydreaming
Of a clutch of kaleidoscopic flowers
Filling her empty centerpiece vase
Before bed he synchronizes the clocks
And double checks all the alarms
While she slips away from time
And stays up way too late
In the anteroom of sleep
One dreams of a happy implacable future together
While the other rues the possibility
Of there ever being a present apart
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