When the young woman

WHEN THE YOUNG WOMAN

When the young woman looked into the eyes of her

beaming teary father, with a borrowed

pin in her hair and blue roses for luck,

      the organ note hung in the air

as the only sound in the echoing chapel.

For a heartbeat before the pianist’s fingers found the second note,

her deepest desires came forth in her

psyche’s voice, despite her pulse’s spirited nerves:

“The promises you commit this day

will weigh heavy on both of your lives. 

He knew what he wanted when he asked,

but he has never really been sure;

and you’ve composed this moment since he dropped to one knee:

the flower pedals, bows on each pew, “I do;” the look

of your father’s solid compliance; the first kiss as a new

couple; the reception; white writing on black

windows of a waiting car; the honeymoon suite in paradise, terms

of endearment, and the jealous looks of those who envy your love.

Then, by turn: distance, deceit, vengeance, betrayal;

original passion burnt out;

families torn and feuding,

their idealist defense departed; rumors spoken, the resentment

of ephemeral longing; slammed doors,

uncomfortable nights on the family

room couch; scotch, cigarettes; lonely

bars with desolate strangers wanting nothing but human

contact; the push and pull of feelings withdrawn and recreated;

entanglement, the discovery of complaisance,

hours preoccupying loneliness, suspicious always of the time apart;

the recurrent ailment to leave and the recurrent angst that another

should have him, until only a growing life can force you together.”

Revelation stopped, music started.

Mimicking Donald Hall's "When the young husband"-- Lyrical