Wedding day

Wedding day
 
Look at us then: my buttonhole, your pearls,
your hand in mine, our smiles with energy
enough to make the harbour flags unfurl –
and as we placed our hands upon the wheel
we chose our course, and when to put to sea.
 
Our wedding gifts were lost in violence.
The boat flung us like flotsam as she heeled
and plunged. With reckless seamanship – with senseless
will – with ragged sails – we pitched our way
and frightened crew through torment and ordeal.
 
Look at us now: our boat survived the storms,
scraped past the reef and, limping to this bay
fetched us together on this quieter shore –
our weathered hands guiding the wheel no more,
but touching one another when they may.


Published in a Hedgehog Press Stickleback edition