The heating is gone 
- again. 
 
Startling us  
awake with a big ka-chunk!  
 
Damn!  
 
The radiators gurgle & chortle  
like happy babies. 
 
We nearly jump out of our skin. 
 
The duvet shifts an inch 
...the cold...eats our toes. 
 
Our bodies  
fused together into one big sleepy lump 
 
Seamless 
(impossible to separate us) . 
 
As if hypnotising yourself 
you order yourself:  
 
“Must wee...must wee! ” 
 
“Nooooooo! ” 
I howl 
 
as like a traitor you let an army of vicious cold 
into our citadel of warm and the citadel falls. 
 
I feel betrayed as you tear yourself away. 
 
Tottering under the influence of sleep 
you zig-zag crazily and bump into all of everything!  
 
Your tiny tinkle 
sounds like icicles 
 
You don’t flush…dash 
back to the safety of bed & me. 
 
Aghhhh…you are all goosepimply 
I can count every one in an instant 
...69,009 to be precise. 
 
“Oh…you’re so warm & nice! ” 
You murmur in your hypnotic trance. 
 
Your marble coldness 
steals my heat 
 
as you turn over 
and fall back to sleep 
 
in an instant 
 
taking with you all  blankets and sheets 
Shhhhhhhh....itttttttttttttt!  
 
The cold 
attacks my balls!  
 
Why are they singled out!  
 
Your snores 
fall heavy 
(frozen sound) . 
 
I get up 
put on two sets of clothes 
plus your fur coat. 
 
Make myself 
a cup of tea. 
 
A green glowing clock 
winks at me 
 
tells me 
it is just 
 
3.
Dónall Dempsey
http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/tea-at-three/