Jean Abbott
The Gondolier’s Wife
What do you do all day
While your husband struts the streets
Or stands poised and balanced
Above the dark green water?
The oar transfers the power of his mind and body
Into the boat’s smooth progress
Through impossibly narrow channels
Collision-free.
Who presses his immaculate trousers?
Do you spend your days in some dark kitchen
Washing his crisp white shirts by hand,
While he, the master of water,
Flirts with foreign girls
As he touts for trade?
Does he smile and laugh with you
At midnight when he returns?
Or has it been a good day for trade
And the long hours of rhythmic sway
Send him straight down into sleep?
Do you share his pride,
Love him for his skill,
Or do you watch your neighbour’s regular hours,
And envy his wife her certainty and steady wage?
Do you bask in his reflected glory
Or do you long to be free
Of the shuttered room and shady square
And sparkle with him, like him,
In the world of sunlight and water?
While your husband struts the streets
Or stands poised and balanced
Above the dark green water?
The oar transfers the power of his mind and body
Into the boat’s smooth progress
Through impossibly narrow channels
Collision-free.
Who presses his immaculate trousers?
Do you spend your days in some dark kitchen
Washing his crisp white shirts by hand,
While he, the master of water,
Flirts with foreign girls
As he touts for trade?
Does he smile and laugh with you
At midnight when he returns?
Or has it been a good day for trade
And the long hours of rhythmic sway
Send him straight down into sleep?
Do you share his pride,
Love him for his skill,
Or do you watch your neighbour’s regular hours,
And envy his wife her certainty and steady wage?
Do you bask in his reflected glory
Or do you long to be free
Of the shuttered room and shady square
And sparkle with him, like him,
In the world of sunlight and water?
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