Bonds

My beloved,

My love,

Ten years since whispered promises became spoken vows,

In dovetail step, our path, with grass trodded into the turf,

Morning rites and evening rites -- day and night on earth,

Shape our communion below sky or wooden boughs,

This sweet sacrament of the ordinary,

A diamond forged from common coal,

Love, love, love in our common places,

Now beloved, arise, do not tarry.

My beloved, 

My love,

Many a morn, your eyes open to my dawning gaze,

Like any morn, as the choirs of first light mustered,

Somnolent eyes, equivocate beneath their luster,

That we might abide in rest, and in sharing our days.

This sweet sacrament of presence,

I -- inwardly, outwardly stirred,

Love, love, love, in our quiet spaces,

Now beloved, abide with me.

My beloved,

My love,

In sundry ways, all the woes of all the wide world,

Settle in our bones and spirits; the body keeps score,

Of heartbreak, bloodshed, and sorrow, now, evermore.

 Afar God's country pilgrims we, with flag unfurled,

This bitter sacrament of pain,

Met with eyes of burning coal,

Love, love, love, in broken places,

Now beloved, endure with me.

My beloved,

My love,

On this anniversary, joy overtakes this troubled heart,

Where our commonplace foretells the beatific vision,

As our paths transfigured from earthen to elysian,

With seraphs, in awe. The most beautiful lover imparts.

This rich sacrament of marriage,

A communion envisioned by poets,

Love, love, love, that leavens the whole,

Now beloved, in grace, heal with me.

The cup, the bread.

The blood, the body,

Alive in God,

In love with you.