WATER IN YOUR BATH 1962

A BOY AND HIS GIRLFRIEND'S MOTHER AND A BATH NIGHT IN 1962

I knocked on
the cottage door
and your mother answered

is Yehudit home?
I asked

she looked at me blankly
she's in the bath
she said

can I come in
and wait?  

she nodded
and I followed her
into the large
sitting room
where she indicated
where I should sit
so I sat

she walked out
into the kitchen
I heard her switch on
a kettle

then she put her head
into the room
and asked if I wanted
a hot drink

I said
tea would be nice
and so she took
her head away
and I heard her
muttering away
under her breath

I wondered how long
you would be
and how far you
had got with your bath
and wished
I was the water
in the bath
to be able
to embrace you
and put myself
around you

sugar?
milk?
your mother asked

yes both please
I said

letting the image of me
as the water
in your bath
run away

your mother brought in
two cups and set them
down on a table
she shouldn't be long
your mother said

she sat down
and sipped her tea
looking at me
and I thought
just as well
she cannot mind read
or I would be
on the way out
the door

but luckily
she couldn't
and I became
the water in your bath
once more.