Dreams Of An Everyday Housewife

This was read out on RTE radio.

I am a housewife

My job it is clear

Clean washing and ironing

Throughout the year.

Kitchen and Bathroom

Bedrooms and Bins

Iron ‘til midnight

To pay for my sins.

Baking and budgeting

Making ends meet

Grocery shopping

Though I’m dead on my feet.

Gardener, counsellor

Nurse, PRO

On 24 hour duty

To help everything flow.

Though my dreams they are simple

My needs they are few

But prayers for my children

I daily accrue.

Let them be healthy

Wherever they roam

Do well and be happy

And come safely home.

For if they’re in trouble

Or very unwell

My dreams would be worthless

My life would be hell.

And when they are older

And out in the world

My dreams will be aired out

And gently unfurled

I will paint a masterpiece

Become a cottage dweller

(by the sea)

Sing Opera, in Covent Garden

And write my first BestSeller.

I will have a love affair

With Vienna, Paris, Rome

And when I’m feeling tired and old

I’ll take me gently home.

I’ll get a handsome lawyer

To sort out my affairs,

And employ a handsome writer

To edit my memoirs

I will grow old gracefully

Watching old reruns

Die peacefully in my chair

Amidst my dear loved ones.

Don’t think my dreams are phoney

For in this disarray

I study piano and singing

And paint or write each day.

Yes I am a housewife

With dreams like many more.

and while I wash and cook and iron

My dreams I simply store.

30th September 2003