Treasure

“Is there a word you treasure above others?”
my lovely wife had asked me with a pout.
“You write, right? Well, then, had you had your druthers,
is there a word you wouldn’t do without?

A word you would include in every sonnet,
in every composition, every ode?”
I told her I must really think upon it.
Was this a real question, or some code,

some test for me to pass, a trickster’s riddle?
A husband learns that words can be a clue,
but poets, bent on matching cat to diddle,
can often be as clueless as a ewe

about to become dinner. That is life.
“Of course,” I said. “One word. Four letters. Wife.”

Author notes: image generated by author prompt to Gemini