Who raised the children.
I think it was my mother and grandmother 
Their voices speaking in moral certitudes 
Staying the hand if not the tongue 
When hard lessons must be learned.

Who said you must have
A his and hers, a forever after,
Does that make all the things said acceptable
While neighbors listen from their patio.

Does it make it any better
That a woman and a man
Teach their children 
with the words they swallow,
The words they spit out  

These lessons are as ancient
as angels and gods.