the bottom line

sometimes i think i should want to travel the world

and sleep on a camel's back

and crouch under crumbled walls as missiles whir over my head


and sometimes i think i should want to be a climber

and teeter on the edge of a great crevasse

and finally scale my favorite mountain, glacier peak


and sometimes i imagine i will be working with the poor in india

saving a young woman's life as her husband attempts to burn her with hot kitchen oil


and i will learn a million languages

and become a doctor

and become strong and fearless on the mountain


but all these wild dreams of mine

are shattered pretty quickly

when i realize that all i really want in life

is a lover to curl up with at home.