What you see

What you see is a cloth on a table
That covers the pock marks of time.
Like that time with the knife- (an accident,
really, but still you can feel where it cut
through the wood if you just run
your fingers across it.)
This fabric was costly, but it is so thin.
How easy some child or her loud laughing father-
(Both clumsy!) could trip up and pull it all down.
So that's why to never have company over; just do not invite them, that's what.
'cause you see here a tablecloth,
 perfect and light, not
the table itself
Underneath.