Neighbors

                                                      House at Dusk 1935 by Edward Hopper

Image:1 Courtesy of Tess' Mag 119

Know thy neighbors, love thy neighbors

Love the way you love yourself

Not like cuddling a neighbor like a cute kitten

when she’s really a cute little kitty

Like you’ll be bashed up by the loving hubby

or a jealous boyfriend who likes to keep things

all for himself. Love them for the occasional chats

Or to humbly borrow a pint of milk for the baby who

just can’t wait for you to nip over to the grocer’s

or the 4-step ladder that you left at your mother’s house

but you need to change the bulb right now, pronto!

Love him for good advice on the stocks,

don’t  hound him when it’s down but

rather sheepishly admit you’ve been

careless – overtrading , bad analysis or

just plain whims or whatever

Love him for the golf partner that you need

by being ok! for a gimme

Love him for all you want for yourself

but not to fall ‘for being with the Jones’

for which behind every successful man is a woman and

so also it’s true the other way around

Not being able to locate your wife while shopping at the Mall

Don’t loudly exclaim ‘I’ve lost my wife’ in jest for the good

neighbor nearby might just retort, ‘is it good or bad?’

Written for Tess' Mag #119