A poem about the life of true love.
I wrote this years ago to be read in a gathering of elderly widows on valentines day. I decided it was not right for that setting and sung Thomas Moore’s “Believe Me, If All Those Endearing Young Charms” instead. But year after year I have failed to compose one that I think captures love better, so I’ll share it here.
When we were young and first in love
It seemed our love was like a dove:
So sweet with peace, and cute, and small;
Iconic, delicate, and all.
Though doves are nice, back then I think
That I was loathe to even blink
Lest in the moment you might fade
And steal the joy your presence made.
When we had children, many, small,
My love for you was growing tall.
More like a beech tree then it seemed,
Strong, erect, it fairly gleamed;
And in the sunlight of your grace
It flourished in our little place
While in its shade our children grew.
Our love back then had much to do.
Our children erred, and in our grief
Our love grew like a coral reef.
It was still sweet and strong and bright,
But also deep and weather-tight.
The tears we shed in lieu of sleep
Watered roots of love so deep
That it was made so very strong
It seemed ’twould last forever long.
When I retired, day joined night
To build our love to mountain height.
No reef ’twas then, no tree, no dove:
The clouds were shorter than our love.
Rock solid then, majestic, stout,
Our love dwarfed all the world about,
And on its mighty summit raised
We two, so close, in heaven’s praise.
So far our love progressed in day,
And then your death brought night to stay.
In that deep darkness, filled with fear,
I felt that naught could dry my tear…
And then I knew our love more full
Could fill the earth from pole to pole!
The mountain of our golden years
Was turned a planet through the tears.
And one soon day I too will die,
And then we know that you and I
With God will find our love still grows,
Beyond the galaxy it goes.
More sweet than dove, taller than tree
Stronger than corals of the sea
Far past mountains, past the sun
True love, we twain will then be one.
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