“Who brings this woman to be married?”

We do.

To be married

To be coupled

To be knotted, twisted together

Today tomorrow to death

Joining a heritage of still-married

Great grands through alcoholism and a debilitating stroke

The hospital bed at living room centre

Year after year

Today tomorrow to death

Grands joined at the soul for six decades

Parents still holding hands

Taking dates

Today tomorrow to death
Others broken unfulfilled
But ever hope soars

Today two slide into one

Yet two stand strong

Different Same

New names

Great and grand shes took his

Swirled into the family of him

Closer, the names coupled

Collide

Integrate

Two join making one

Today a new family births

Overlapping with previous identities

Two souls unite in name in love

Joined today tomorrow to death

The mystery of matrimony

Divine Human

A friend to touch

A lover to hold

A comrade to clasp and stride alongside

Today tomorrow to death

Reflecting on my daughter’s recent wedding while gazing at the sunset’s illumination of the interior dome of St. Paul’s Cathedral and listening to the voices of Rohan Williams and poet, Wendy Cope, swirl through the vastness. — Ana Gobledale