The Lemon Grower's Wife

How was he to know
she was unhappy?
He put designer clothes
on her back – rings
on her fingers...
took her out to dine
in the finest restaurants;

she didn’t want for a thing.
And, she’d never complain.
Never once gave him reason
for concern;

when they found her...
three weeks later
in the lake,
the coroner deduced
she’d taken her own life
whilst the balance
of her mind was disturbed.

Well, yes...she had just hit
fifty; the ‘change’ as they call it,
but she’d not mentioned it.
He’d assumed, she’d taken
it all in her stride. And, anyway,
they didn’t talk of trivia like that.

How, on earth, was he to know
it wasn’t a glass of Chardonnay,
brought to her boudoir
by a man with a silver tray,
she’d wanted?

But, a husband that wrapped her
in clotted-cream coloured towels...
sat on the loo-seat – asked
how she was, and,
how her day had been.