Fifty Years

I thought about the date, yesterday
Fifty years since they said, I do
eighteen since she said, goodbye.

A moment in time, a date on the calendar
a marking of what might have been;
but of what was as well,
the happy moments of life
they shared, we shared as a family,
and as we talked, sharing of what is in her new life,
her joy in the new gifts.

Three years since they said, I do
a sea of family and friends, witnesses
attesting, affirming their love for each other
seen again in the hospital room
this week of their lives, their life together
the language they shared,
even when there were no words

A privilege to witness, to see them together
in touch and in whispered words
heard even with the hearing aids
softer than others must speak
somehow heard,
through their life together.

Fifty years, that might have been;
a life that is living still
in other arms; but few regrets
the joy in the love they share now.


May 24, 2009