An Unfortunate Remark Poem by Donal Mahoney

The old couple sits in recliners
after dinner the way old couples do
and she tells him what she saw
in the yard that first warm day
and it’s crocuses and daffodils
no tulips yet but she knows
tulips will pop any day
and he listens because there
might be a quiz but then

she sees the gun in his lap
and she asks why it’s there
and he says it’s in case
she repeats the remark
she made the night before
because this time he’ll shoot
the words out of the air
quicker than a pheasant
in hunting season and

blood will splatter
on the ceiling and walls
because this time she won't
put a hole in his heart as she
did last night and maybe
the two of them can return
to who they were before
she spoke and he survived,
hanging on to life.