The Universal Tenancy

For over two decades I have lived
in a property that I have rented
from a wealthy private landlord
where the state keep him well
because it also pays my rent.

We rarely see each other
but it seems better that way
-we have so little in common
with each other that there are
no grounds for friendship there.

I have said to friends who rent
that a relationship that works
between landlord and tenant
is of the highest priority
for the longevity of the tenancy.

Repairs to the house might be late,
but for the tenant/landlord relationship
to fall into long term disrepair
within a competitive society
will mean that sooner or later
the tenancy is doomed to end.

Beyond the human realm,
but still with tenant/landlord terms,
if more of us held to the attitude
that we are merely brief tenants
and the Planet Earth is our landlady
then how much more shared
would our sense of tenancy be?

The hardest part with that view
is how terminal and absolute
the end of the tenancy will be........