comfort me with apples
with turquoise, with rain
I have love and three children
I have chased away
the men who came to my door
in the dark of night
I have built a fairy land
from roses, plums, and strings of lights
I drove down the roads you know
when they still believed
the promises that men had made
about where they would someday lead
I call the dog, I hide the money
between the sheets
I tell the neighbor's children how to stand
and not to weep
I smoke my cigarettes
as I think of what to say
but still there are days when
I am not sure I know my name.