valentine

what if I move the bed 

and make room for you

and throw out all the underpins with holes and things unraveling

what if I fix the drawers that have long gone off their tracks

and buy new sheets

and turn the goddamned mattress

what if I vacuum

and peer beneath the box springs

to find who-even-knows what

something I’d forgotten

something I’d thought I’d lost

what if I throw wide the curtains 

and let in enough light so that you can see

me in all my hideous imagined disfigurement

if I moved my pile of clothes from the chair

to make room for yours

would you still want this   still want me   

would you forgive the remnants of past lives

and scars from old loves

and my ineffective housekeeping

what if I move the bed

and break up all my patterns

what if I’m unable to sleep

© AL Pearsall, 2015