so we are where we were at the beginning

So we are where we were at the beginning

you and i, amid the waste of so many years

and lives spent living amongst one another

I put away your things in the places I have

learned that you expect to find them and also

I know the places where you like to put away my things

I know that we must not try to eat breakfast together

you must have the newspaper fresh, even if I put it back

so that I have learned to get my news from public radio

You have learned to like my cooking, even when I cannot

seem to remember that you do not like pears, except in salad

and I have started to use ketchup on my turkey at Thanksgiving

Now that we have achieved this balance, we find ourselves alone

again, with no children to referee our lives and focus our attention

so we are where we were at the beginning, and I wonder, how long

Can we learn to fall in love with the people we have become, you and I?

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