A Long Marriage Poem by Donal Mahoney

It started with a smirk
she managed to arrest.
It returned seconds later

in a sneer she pulled back
but then it appeared again
in the adder of a half smile

wives reserve for husbands
who sometimes say things that
don’t come out quite right.

Things happen in a marriage
between the best of couples
but never till that moment

in a long marriage had he seen
three faces flash by and
disappear so fast.

He would have said nothing
had he seen those faces
when he proposed.

But the lovely lady would be
sitting in that same restaurant
waiting for a different mate.