PHOTO PROVIDED Joe Pacheco

(As told and told to Joe Pacheco)

Please, not another valentine,

Unload the dishwasher instead.

Tell the muse to pick up your shoes,

And let her help you make the bed.

Don’t profess your love in rhyme,

Just prepare the recycle bins,

Such a chore can’t be a bore

If that’s how second love begins.

Forget the dinner and the dance,

Pick up that clothing on the floor.

Diamonds and gems, roses with stems

Simply won’t hack it anymore.

One Valentine’s Day we made a wish:

“Always together whatever comes.”

Today I wish you’d rinse your dish

And clear the table of its crumbs.

The only time you’ve ever vacuumed

Is still fresh in my mind:

You left no trace of the broken vase

That once contained my valentine.

No need for heart-shaped I-Pods,

Or other gifts to buy online.

Make less of a mess, ease my stress —

Then I will be your Valentine.