After His Wife’s Last Operation by Donal Mahoney

After His Wife’s Last Operation

He often got bored with her hobby talk    

but this weekend he looks forward to  

hours of cooking shows on television  

while he talks with her about her quilting.  

He finally accepts that she is dying as

the doctor told him after her last operation.    

She is still his core, he knows, his centering,  

and he tells her often now he loves her 

but she will never know how much.

If he could tell other men one thing 

it would be to cherish who and what 

a wife is while they have one.