take your shoes off

when i hear

you need to take your shoes off
when you come
in.

i know it's trouble.
don't come before noon.

and not at two
because the babies will
be sleeping.

text before you arrive.
wear your mask.

ring the bell, don't knock,

wash your hands.
don't park in the drive.

i can smell trouble from
thirty miles
away,

but i go just the same, it's
work
after all

and something to write
about
when i  run dry.