olive grove

I promise not to growl too much.

I keep a little cottage in an olive grove—
a sanctuary built of sunlight and silence
where the only thing I have to share
is time with you.

You can read me pages from Brontë.
I promise to be good—
I will sit at your foot and
feed on the scraps of words which
fall from your mouth and
lap up any which spill down your legs.

I promise not to growl too much. And
I will only bite—

if you want me to.