It’s Poetry Friday! First off I’d like to point you to This week’s Poetry Push poems where readers have shared their poetic response to a Poetry Push prompt for a list poem. I’ve decided to point to the original link for Poetry Friday, rather than repost the poems here because that way people can respond to any of the individual poems that might speak to them.
I started to panic when I realized that it was Poetry Friday because I’ve been flat out on the couch with the flu all week with my husband stuck taking care of me and the dog and the house and still going to work each day. So with Valentine’s Day around the corner, and the knowledge that I have one the best husbands ever, I decided to write a love poem for him.
IT’S EASY FOR HIM
It’s easy for him to say I love you
on the good days,
days when I’ve decluttered the house,
caught up on the laundry and
finally changed the sheets on the bed.
It’s easy for him to say I love you
on the pretty days,
when I dress up just a little,
days I let mascara wake up my tired eyes
and my clean hair falls to my waist
like strands of sunshine.
It’s easy to love
when life is beautiful.
Not so easy
(or so I thought)
to say I love you on the down days,
the not feeling like myself and
I’m getting sick days.
But he notices something about me
and asks are you okay?
I shake my head no and he holds my hair
away from my face,
and I lean over the bucket
while my stomach rebels.
I camp on the couch and
he brings me clear liquids
and soda crackers
and makes sure the remote control and the phone
are close at hand when he has to leave.
He comes home carrying every comfort food
he can remember I’ve ever mentioned,
alternates his day between letting me nap
and bringing me more foods
to tempt my lack of appetite.
He keeps the house running quietly in the background
while I do battle with the flu,
rubs my back,
tucks the comforter up under my chin,
blows me a kiss good night,
and oh, all the ways he tells me
he loves me
the good days and the bad days
he loves me
it’s so easy for him.
Susan Taylor Brown
All Rights Reserved
Lovely poem, Susan. Happy V-Day to both of you :). Hope you’re feeling much better now.
Thanks, Jama. Happy V-Day to you and your sweetie too. It’s so nice to feel human again.
That is a beautiful poem Susan. Thank you for sharing it with us. I hope you feel better soon.
Thank you. It’s a first draft that I wrote last night so of course now I want to tinker with it.
I feel human again, at last. It feels like forever even though it’s only been a week but I think that’s because I’ve been hit with this illness after another one.
I believe I owe you a LJ mail too.
Thanks, Jeannine. It’s a very rough late night draft that I will keep playing with but I wanted to get something up.
I’m a very lucky woman though, I know that for sure.
Thanks for that poem, Susan! It’s good to read a Valentine’s Day poem that deals with the rough as well as the smooth.
Hope that by Valentine’s Day itself you’re feeling great!
Beautiful.
So wonderful, Susan. Not only the sentiment, but the poem itself–terrific! I especially love strands of sunshine:>) Hope you’re feeling better!