Adrienne Rich - Living in Sin lyrics

She had thought the studio would keep it'self
No dust upon the furniture of love
Half heresy, to wish the taps less vocal
The panes relieved of grime a plate of pears
A piano with a Persian shawl, a cat
Stalking the picturesque amusing mouse
Had risen at his urging
Not that at five each
Separate stair would writhe
Under the milkman's tramp that morning light
So coldly would delineate the scraps
Of last night's cheese and
Three sepulchral bottles
That on the kitchen shelf among the saucers
A pair of beetle-eyes would fix her own -
Envoy from some village in the moldings
Meanwhile, he, with a yawn
Sounded a dozen notes upon the keyboard
Declared it out of tune
Shrugged at the mirror
Rubbed at his beard, went out for cigarettes
While she, jeered by the minor demons
Pulled back the sheets and made
The bed and found
A towel to dust the table-top
And let the coffee-pot boil over on the stove
By evening she was back in love again
Though not so wholly but throughout the night
She woke sometimes to feel
The daylight coming
Like a relentless milkman up the stairs