In Praise of My Marriage

40 years before the marital mast
Has carried us so very far
Beyond the original cast
Of fellowship that lit our way
And built a city made of love
A secure place in the heart
That tells of ways and means
To stay the course
Through travail and trial
Of overwhelming questions
Doubts
And from time to time
The inevitability of remorse.

40 years we have struggled
Endured
Become inured
To the disappointments
And the pain
Of promises unresolved
Dissolved in the daily
Loss and gain
Produced and lost
The profit set against the cost
That we bore willingly
Upon our steady practiced pace
As we lived it
Always face to face
In growing trust and faith
That we’d not fail or falter
In our common quest
To be each other’s witness
And build together the thing that was
What it was we knew
From each of us
Was best

40 years I count the blessings
You have brought
Enriched us both
Distilled
To the waters of content
A well that keeps on giving
Until the vessel’s filled
Makes life worth living
And the coming of its end
A finality without regret

All this I owe you beloved
And I have repaid as best
A man can do
Who’s stood the test
To have only eyes for you
For no one could ever
Distract that loving gaze
That says it all and more
That our embrace
Is true
And still it sets
My aged heart ablaze.