Two Poems by Ed Galing

The Scandal

and so it came to pass
that my nephew Bill
he of the tattoos
the one who ran away
from home at an early
age,
    joined the circus
sowed his wild oats
with other wives,
before he settled down
with his latest,
the beautiful Reena,
who came from Bulgaria,
tall, stately, and
very young,
      Bill was at least,
twenty five years older,
than she,
     and we all wondered the
usual how and why of it
all,
    was she just another
bauble, another conquest,
like the tattoos he had
all over his body,
    would there be room
for another name on his
forearm, or back of his
head, for her name ?
    inwardly we all envied
him his mighty conquest,
the envy at family get
togethers,
    while neither one of
them were at all effected
by all this furor of an
older man, with a younger
woman
 they went their
own way doing what comes
naturally,
    slightly bemused by all
the unwanted notoriety
in the family,
    waiting for the next chapter.


Nursing Home

I  was standing on a chair
close to the window where
my wife was lying in the
bed,
        in the nursing home,
trying to hang up her
photograph when she was
twenty one years old:
I wanted this photo of
her to be just right;
so  that  everyone who
entered the room would
see  how beautiful  she
was then, and was still
       my wife watched as
I finished squaring it off,
and said softly ,
       is that me?
Yes,  honey,  I replied  that
was you sixty years ago;
       I got off the chair,
and we both looked up at
this  young girl with
brown hair, full red lips,
a brilliant smile, a honey
of a girl,
        and my wife frowned,
and said,  I really  looked
good there, didn’t I?
         I nodded, and the woman
in the other bed, who had
been watching, remarked,
         you are one pretty girl
in that photo,  a Hollywood
queen,
         she sure was, I nodded,
leaning over I kissed my wife
and whispered, I will be back
tomorrow, honey,
          it’s almost bedtime . .
my wife turned her head to
   the pillow, and closed her
eyes,
      I said goodbye to her and
the other woman,
       and walked out the door
trying not to let anyone see
me crying.

Ed Galing