Facts of Life

I.

The cash I pay you

to have sex with me

worth every penny

for the joy and pleasure

knowing you have three

boys to raise, with previous

asshole husbands, one dead,

one useless, to the job

of raising three boys.

If you were my wife

most likely I would spend

thousands of dollars more

to make sure your life

was safe and comfortable.

At this safe distance

as a sex customer

I get off easy.

II.

You are not the first

sex-worker to receive my love

as well as my cash

perhaps not the last.

I do what I can

for the people close to me

and my cock in your mouth

is as close as I get

to any human.

We talk enough for you

to understand I will always

take care of you as best

I can, as long as I can

because that is what

I choose to do.

III.

All this, not the romance

young boys and young girls

dream of, watching Disney

cartoons and hearing fantasies

about grown-ups living

happily ever after.

Our romance will do.

It is what we have,

our deliberate reality

the one I prefer to your

previous life taking it

in the ass and making sandwiches

to husband who fucked around

did heroin and punched you

in the face, the missing tooth

a reminder forever.