Poem by the Flemish poet Andy Fierens

MUMMIES AND DADDIES

mummies love daddies

daddies love mummies

usually a mummy gives

her love to one daddy

(the converse also applies)

day after day

just gives love

to the same daddy

or the same mummy

it sometimes happens

that the one contains

more love

than the other is

                      equal to

we say about these others

that he/she is satiated

or quenched

the one (daddy/mummy) then has

a residue of love

and we sometimes call this

the surplus (that is jargon)

pay attention now

what follows is important

love has a limited shelf life

that means

that it can go sour

just like milk

what’s such a daddy or mummy to do

with that surplus?

let it go bad?

let it languish in some corner?

or could they

perhaps

use it to make

someone else happy?

a daddy or mummy who is lonely?

no right-minded

person can

object to that

you might think

or?

but as you all know

with adults

you never know

imagine mummy gives her surplus

to another daddy

one of those who’s lonely

then there’s a big chance that your

daddy will call your mummy a whore

that means that daddy is not happy

that he

is ventilating his dis-satis-fac-tion

or imagine daddy gives some love

to some lonely mummy or other

then it’s not unlikely that your mummy

runs through the house

screaming strange things

such as i’ll milk you dry

to the last penny

or

just wait till you’re asleep you bastard

and i’ll smear

tar on your balls

that’s terrible

it sometimes happens that a daddy gives

his surplus to another daddy

and sometimes things get patched up

between mummy and daddy

(but if daddy gives his surplus

to another daddy

usually not)

that’s how it goes with adults

later when you’ve become an adult

and married

or live together with someone

or have a living-apart-together realisation

the chance is pretty big

that you’ll notice sooner or later

that you’ve a surplus

then above all you must make

someone else happy with it

for life is short

and senseless without love

but you’ll probably have to learn

to keep your mouth clamped shut

for silence is golden

and girls you don’t want to be whores do you?

and boys you don’t want tar on your balls do you?

but such worries are for the future

just start by looking up the meaning

of the word jargon