Public Republic

Donal Mahoney

Photo: mbtphoto

When my wife is in her garden,
she becomes a ballerina
moving with the morning breeze
through hollyhocks and roses,
peonies and phlox.
There is music only she can hear.
It’s been that way for 30 years.
I never interrupt her dance

not even when the house caught fire
early in the morning. I didn’t holler out
the way another husband might
if he had never had a gardener for a wife.
Instead I called the firemen,
and while they were on their way,
I poured water from the sink
on the growing conflagration.

My efforts proved to be in vain.
The firemen arrived too late and so
the house is now a shell of smoke.
The garden still looks beautiful
yet I have no idea what I’ll say
when my wife comes back inside.
But if she’s toting roses to arrange
she may not notice any change.