proposal

I will write all Christmas letters, thank-you notes,
and pick out birthday presents for our parents,
if you iron your own shirts, my skirts
(or at least take them to the cleaners)
and unscrew the lids from jars I can't manage.

Feel free to make more money
and have a hobby suitably removed
from the day to day to day pattern of our life.
I, naturally, will bear the children
and pray they come by your good sense,
my ear for languages, honestly.

Like my mother, I will want to paint
often and buy shoes, a new dress for a party.
Unlike her, I am willing to drive in the
city, at night, and through the dust and nothing
of Texas (when we move to be near your
aging parents). My driving might
make you nervous but it's a standing offer.

I'm willing to cook, but if you'd rather, standing in
front of a sink filled with warm soapy water
suits me, too. Please remind me that clouds
are a shaky foundation, of the danger of
drowning in a pool of my own whimsy. Because
I love you I will remind you to be kind
even when you are tired, to suffer fools gladly.