A bit of poetry for a soft summer evening.

Love Song for Gladys Kravitz

Your name is Welsh and means "territorial ruler"
And you rule my heart with your iron voice
    and your plastic glasses
You are everything I ever feared I would become
Your flowery housedress reveals
    so little, but hides nothing
And your sense of yourself
    extends halfway down the block
I would let you clean my teeth
    using only your voice
The vision of you in your yellow rubber
    gloves haunts me when I'm alone
I cannot equal your sense of justice
    or the force of your righteousness
You flame of eternal vigilance
    shines like the burnished copper of your hair
And the territory over which you are
    the benevolent dictator lies peaceful and calm
And the wings of your plastic
    unbreakable gaze fold me in their embrace