Signs of Your Love

Bookshop bickering over Valentine roses

Evening Standard, 14 February 2012

for Louise

How your love light dazzles if I dare only look it in the face
yet I have looked for a sign of your love in all the wrong places:

how you sigh as you pile another load into the washing machine
and not how you’ve never asked me to wash my own clothes,

how you iron my shirts as though mopping spilt blood
and not how you fasten them on a hanger so they stay free of creases,

how my wet shoes on your spotless kitchen floor make you mad
and not how its cleanliness is your way of saying welcome home,

how you fight a futile battle all winter to keep the cars clean
and not how their polished shine reflects your pride in us,

how you always want to talk about who’s done what at work
and not how lucky I am that you choose to unburden your cares on me,

how our children’s incessant demands exhaust you so
and not how you chose me above all others to be their father,

how you devote so much time to keeping fit at the gym
and not how much you still care that you please me after all these years,

how a speck of dust on the floor makes you reach for the vacuum
and not how it breaks your heart when your home-making goes unsaid,

how we have to live near your family and two hundred miles from mine
and not how your heart is set on retiring to a city we can both make our own,

how for years you straightened your hair and now you fuss about your curls
and not how a simple and honest compliment makes you smile,

how you won’t leave the house without your makeup applied
and not how you wash it off at night and still look wonderful to me,

how you won’t kiss me if I’ve the slightest stubble on my chin
and not how you only care if I shave when you want us to kiss,

how you leave all the post in a pile for me to open at the weekend
and not how you trust that the mail contains nothing we’d rather not share,

how my raging poems and stories leave you stone cold
and not how you honour that part of me by patient acceptance.

(c) 2012 Slush Poet