The Rebound
Posted: January 23rd, 2011, 12:00 pm
"You and that open marriage thing,”
she said to me last night
when I suggested that she see him.
I don’t read her emails,
but I can read her eyes—
they were misty with denial.
She never stopped loving him.
She married me as the alarm rang
on her biological clock,
a traditional marriage, after a sort.
Except that we arranged it ourselves.
Like any contract, ours
has implied covenants (we’re both Catholic),
which she scrupulously observes.
These fresh faces who live with us
mingled our blood, will retell our myths.
When I awaken in the depths of the night,
I reach over, and touch her.
Only once or twice has she spoken
out of a troubled sleep.
What is love against this?
she said to me last night
when I suggested that she see him.
I don’t read her emails,
but I can read her eyes—
they were misty with denial.
She never stopped loving him.
She married me as the alarm rang
on her biological clock,
a traditional marriage, after a sort.
Except that we arranged it ourselves.
Like any contract, ours
has implied covenants (we’re both Catholic),
which she scrupulously observes.
These fresh faces who live with us
mingled our blood, will retell our myths.
When I awaken in the depths of the night,
I reach over, and touch her.
Only once or twice has she spoken
out of a troubled sleep.
What is love against this?