A Tale Of True Love Poem by Charles Wax

Mabel Catherine Rose allowed herself
to be wheeled into Meng's once a week
for her beloved pork chops with corn and applesauce.
She could well afford to eat that feast every day
since her late husband's life insurance policy
provided money enough to live a comfortable life
but her metabolism was slow, and had been so all her life.
Indeed her battle against obesity never-ending
now made more difficult by being confined to a wheelchair
after breaking her hip two years ago
the bones never healing properly.
Harold McSorley wheeled her in
also a widower McSorley was now her companion
and even in his mid-seventies the chap dressed in a jaunty manner
today sporting a lavender shirt and peach colored pants
glasses fire engine red
and fancy Michael Jordan sneakers.
McSorley and Catherine Rose had been a couple
for ten months, defeating the demon loneliness.
'Read any good books, Bernstein? '
'One about Mrs. Seton, founder of the American Sisters of Charity.'
'You read books about Saints? McSorley watches the Three Stooges.'
He said, 'Whatever I like you got no use for.'
'Did I ever stop you from watching the Three Stooges? ' she said,
'even though Moe looks like a monkey.'
'He makes me laugh.'
'A baboon with half a brain.'
'You don't want me to watch them no more, I won't.'
'I never said you shouldn't watch them. Did I say that, Bernstein? '
'Not that I heard.'
'I only said Moe looks like a monkey with half a brain,
and the other one, baldly,
squeaks like a mouse.
Fine! You want to watch, so watch.'
Catherine Rose turned to me saying,
'So, Bernstein, what did you come away with
from reading the book? '
'That's a difficult question.'
'If you want easy talk to McSorley. From me you get tough questions.'
'Mrs. Seton felt the Heart of Jesus was her refuge
and in such a state of being
no aspect of existence could be painful or burdensome.'
'A Saint!
Mortals have problems!
But not for long:
McSorley, the Pork Chops! '