I ... entered the poem of life, whose purpose is ... simply to witness the beauties of the world, to discover the many forms that love can take. (Barabara Blackman in 'Glass After Glass')

These poems are works in progress and may be updated without notice. Nevertheless copyright applies to all writings here and all photos (which are either my own or used with permission). Thank you for your comments. I read and appreciate them all, and reply here to specific points that seem to need it — or as I have the leisure. Otherwise I reciprocate by reading and commenting on your blog posts as much as possible.

20 February 2016

A Long Marriage

We were promised to each other
before I was born.
Perhaps I understood this
even in the cradle. I knew it 
when I was seven and,
in my infantile way, embraced you 
as one who had the right.

There were some who told me
I could not aspire so high.
By my teens they suggested
you were fickle, and would never
be a good provider – 
I would do better to treat this
as a mere casual flirtation.

But I knew it was a true betrothal,
a deep affair of the heart.
I knew that I was incapable
of ever forsaking you, no matter
what other loves might intervene.
As I knew that you, despite mysterious 
absences, would always return to me.

And so it has been. We've both
had other paramours, even other 
true loves. There are times, still,
we need our space apart – for play 
or solitude. We no longer consume
each other lustfully. We are old friends.
Yet we are all in all, faithful unto death.

Take my hand, Muse of Poetry.
Press your lips to my heart.
There are still some songs 
to sing to each other, 
some dances in each other's arms. 
How surely, now, we move together, 
closer than ever, inventing new steps.

For Poets United's Midweek Motif: Marriage

11 comments:

  1. Oh, I like this. Such a wonderful metaphor for true love - and yet in a way, the muse is just like love and the longer you have each other, the more like a couple you become. Good poem Rosemary. I so agree, "there are still some songs to sing to each other, some dances in each other's arms."

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    1. I'm glad you enjoyed it. In fact I meant marriage to be the metaphor for my long relationship with poetry. :)

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  2. This is freaking BRILLIANT! How absolutely perfect. Your closing stanza is especially gorgeous. I love this so much!!!!!!

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  3. "There are still some songs / to sing..."..there ARE Rosemary...i really lack words to describe the wondrous feeling this poem evokes...

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  4. My relationship with poetry has indeed outlasted the others, Rosemary. You have perfectly captured in words that connection we have with our creative 'other half'; that one part of us we'd be bereft without. It all sounds so 'flaky' to non-creative types but we know it's real.

    A lovely poem.

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    1. Thank you for these lovely words of understanding. :)

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  5. What a wonderful ode to that most constant of companions, Rosemary! Loved it.

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  6. Take my hand, Muse of Poetry.
    Press your lips to my heart.
    There are still some songs
    to sing to each other...

    Beautiful! I love it :D

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