Today is our 42nd anniversary.
When Hal and I were first engaged, we came up with this wonderfully romantic plan. Every anniversary we would gift each other a poem. An original love poem. I still love this plan. But...
He owes me 41 poems.
Which, actually, makes me smile. Here is one I wrote for him around about our 4th anniversary:
ANNIVERSARY POEM
When I say
thus and such
and you respond with
such and that
I almost begin to realize
that you didn't at all understand
my this and there
thinking it instead to be
otherwise
and then I correcting spout
how as what
but you come back with
why and wherefore
and I meaning to point out
because furthermore and
therefore--
Oh, forget it!
Come kiss me.
I think humor has been one of the glues that has held our relationship together. When our son David was a wise 14 year old, he told me that my God-given mission in life was to make Dad laugh. (Hal can be rather serious and intense.)
As I was meditating in the early hours of this morning, thanking God for Hal and our marriage, I thought of the poem I will give him today, written by Wendell Berry. (I might also be able to come up with an original contribution before the midnight deadline. Or I might not.)
THE WILD ROSE
by Wendell Berry
Sometimes hidden from me
in daily custom and in trust,
so that I live by you unaware
as by the beating of my heart,
suddenly you flare in my sight,
a wild rose blooming at the edge
of thicket, grace and light
where yesterday was only shade,
and once more I am blessed, choosing
again what I chose before.
Thanks be to God for love that endures.
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Beautiful. I will definitely share this with my husband. I will pray for Hal--41 poems! You make me laugh too. Why does this gift not appear on Paul's lists? Perhaps he needed a wife.
ReplyDeleteYes, perhaps that's just what he needed. But I think Paul would have been hard to live with, much less write poetry to.
ReplyDeleteIf you follow your line of thinking you might end up where you don't want to go as it does appear that you're hard to "write poetry to" or Hal wouldn't be under a pile of 41 incompletes. See, you make me nuts. I'll stick with laughter as a gift, writing poetry as talent. The best I can do is:
ReplyDeleteI love red
I love blue
But most of all (pause)
I love green
I love poems when they're deep. Thank you. Here's another one, in case your day is lacking in inspiration:
ReplyDeleteRoses are red,
Violets are blue,
Daffodils are yellow,
And chrysanthemums are all assorted colors.
I just love that fourth anniversary poem! It's a true classic.
ReplyDeleteSuch beautiful poems! breath-taking.
ReplyDelete