Pāhonoa te oro

My coworker said something at lunch that I can’t get out of my head. He said, “I’m lucky my wife is quiet.” And I almost laughed, because mine used to talk all the time. About everything. On our first date she spent twenty minutes explaining where fettuccine Alfredo came from, at the zoo she knew which animals recognized themselves in mirrors, after movies she’d connect them to history I’d never even heard of. Our apartment used to be full of her voice. Now it’s just… quiet. That night I tried t