Cohen, Leonard: Laundry

I took a backward look
As I walked down the street
My wife was hanging laundry
Sheet after sheet after sheet

She ran them down the clothesline
Like flags above a ship
Her mouth was full of clothespins
They twisted up her lip

At last I saw her ugly
Now I could not stay
I made an X across her face
But a sheet got in the way

Then the wind bent back
This flag of armistice
I made the X again
As a child repeats a wish

The second X I drew
Set me up in trade
I will never find the faces
For all goodbyes I've made