Wagers

by Marilyn Hacker

I bet you don't wear shoulder pads in bed.
I bet when we get over, we'll be bad!
I bet you blush all over when you come.

Although the butch coach gave them out, and said,
they're regulation issue for the team,
I bet you don't wear shoulder pads in bed;

and if I whispered something just unseem-
ly enough, I could make your ears turn red.
I bet you blush all over when you come

to where I say, I slept on what we did,
and didn't, then undressed you in a dream.
I bet you don't wear shoulder pads in bed.

I bet my blue pajamas split a seam
while I thought of my hand on you instead.
I bet you blush all over when you come.

Maybe I'll spend Bastille Day feeling bad,
deferring fireworks till the troops get home
-I bet you don't wear shoulder pads in bed.

Don't give me any; just promise me some.
I'm having nicer nightmares than I had.
I bet you blush all over when you come.

But I can bide my time until it's bid-
dable (though, damn, you make me squirm;
I bet you don't wear shoulder pads in bed),

wait till the strawberries are ripe for cream,
and get to give, for having kept my head.
I bet you blush all over when you come.
I bet you don't wear shoulder pads in bed.