Our Song 2            by Kelly Davis

I set out to write a love poem,

but there’s too many in the world.

We already know we love each other

You’ll buy me a ring to prove it.

I’ll say yes and scream giddily.

We’ll celebrate right, me wearing all white.

Then we’ll set out to make something of ourselves

in a little apartment uptown.

That little apartment will turn to a big red brick house in the suburbs,

and our cars will get bigger, too

along with our paychecks, our mutual funds, our televisions,

Not to mention you and me.

You will get up and put on a shirt I will iron fresh for you,

Day in and day out, you will strain your eyes at a desk,

while I spend my time chasing chubby-faced kids.

And as I lay in bed at night, I’ll be too tired to wonder why you haven’t come home,

or care.

The days will become an endless blur

Of errands, dirty dishes, and vacuum cleaners.

Until even sex will become predictable.

Then, you’ll get laid off, and I’ll blame it on you.

“Can’t you do anything right?”  I’ll scream.

We’ll make it seem like its hard getting by,

when really it was just much easier before.

At dinner, we’ll bicker about chores and bills.

Then I’ll look at you one day and decide you’re not the man I married.

We’ll go to court.  Steely-eyed judges and slick young lawyers.

They couldn’t understand what it’s like.

I’ll get the house, the car, the money, the kids.

While you move into a shoebox and start all over again.

As for me, there’s no starting over.

Till death do us part, we’ll say.

Well, it won’t be death that comes between us—but life.