Whose wife this is I think I know
He’s not due back til Tuesday, though;
By her enthusiasm here
She wasn’t sad to see him go.

Still, she makes it pretty clear
She wants a part-time chevalier —
It does her good to shout and shake;
I hope the neighbors cannot hear.

Later, kissing me awake,
She says it made a lovely break,
Then indicates which tangled heap
Of clothes is mine, and no mistake.

Once more, then, lovely, dark and deep,
But, after, says she needs her sleep;
She has her promises to keep.
She has her promises to keep.

Not much is known about Marcus Bales except he lives in Cleveland, Ohio, and his poems have not appeared in Poetry Magazine or The New Yorker.