Upon the Marriage of:
Once when we were young
Do you remember?
Before I knew your name, before the tulips had bloomed
Stolen eyes under the carousel
diving for alabaster off the pier
torn buttons beneath the swinging chair.
How you walked the tram lines in the years with no work
I buried coins ‘neath the oak tree, invested for a ring.
We rationed our sugar, made plum cakes late at night
whispering how we were the only ones who knew.
Our time was spent holding fast, digging deep, breathing skin with swollen gasps.
You swore our joy inspired the prophets to invent magnets.
During the first spring rain came new breath
you wrapped her in lambs wool and promised her cinnamon cloves with her first teeth.
Sweet grass grew around our house
she learned to walk, soft toes on soft dirt.
The year the radio arrived the scientists swore death would soon be defeated
We laughed, for we knew we had found immortality long ago, one night in the wheat field while the sun still shown
–
I never noticed the clouds dampening the sky when I looked at you
and I never feared the dark at the end of the wick when near your voice
Now we are old, our eyes drawn fast toward each other
years rusted deep under December snow
I have never loved you more then when i watch you teach him how to whittle a pipe
when you show her where the choice trout grow.
In the new year, we will fall asleep under the oil lantern
And I will dream of how once I knew where life was found.
In the deep water beyond the road west.
In the columns of the east.
How wrong I was.
life is found where you are
and long after I forget my own name, I will know your pulse
long after the oak tree falls, I will hold you still.
-Written upon the request of my dear friends Brad Horn and Coburn Dukehart, for their wedding.
night before the wedding
Brad and his Mom
(Photo by Andrew Maclean)
Yours truly, delivering the aforementioned poem, during the ceremony.
(Photo by Andrew Maclean)
Everyone was asked to wear a crazy hat. The bride and groom happily participated.
Door County, WI, at dusk
Brad and his Pop
Arguably the best first dance I’ve ever seen
