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