THIRTY-SIX

Thirty-six sets out on her career
Halftime, with her baby on her mind.
If women are emancipated, still,
Remaining issues wait upon the will,
That tends to track the turmoil of its kind,
Yearnings that can sing and soar and sear.

So must she balance melodies with skill,
Interior harmonies, by love designed,
X-rays of a heart that one can hear.

I WISH FOR YOU ONE THING, AND THAT IS LOVE

I wish for you one thing, and that is love:
Love for life, and pure, unfettered joy
At being here upon this vivid earth.

May great pleasure come from giving pleasure,
And love that streams out from your burning heart
Light the darkened world and make it bloom.

I wish you to be loved both well and long
By all those whom you love; that these be many,
Among whom, not the least, might be yourself.

May you love the beautiful and good,
And always act with honesty and justice,
Being what you would that others be.

But most of all, I wish for you a love
Into which your love might plunge and drown,
An ocean in which you might live and breathe.

WE'VE TRAVELED SEVERAL ROCKY ROADS TOGETHER

We've traveled several rocky roads together.
Sometimes I didn't think we'd get this far.
Three children and twenty-five years later
We're more a couple than we ever were.

Years of trying polished off the edges
Because we both possessed the will to try.
What we got is one of life's great treasures:
A garden on the shifting sands of time.

Love demands a kind of self-surrender
That sometimes is with difficulty won.
All who join in marriage must endeavor
To make another's happiness their own.

This sacrifice quite often seems so easy,
But day by day and year by year it's not.
Trust enables one to love completely,
Living with one's charity unlocked.

Our love is like a deep and verdant valley
Nestled in the mountains of desire.

Though all of life's a dream that passes quickly,
We've made a place among the circling stars.

MARRIAGE IS A LETTING GO

Marriage is a letting go,
A plunge into the deep.
No one need the currents fear
Nor hesitate to leap.
You may your spirits keep.

More is gained by giving up
And less by taking in.
Remember that to dwell in joy
You must make room within.

LITTLE DO THE OTHERS KNOW

Little do the others know
How much I hurt inside.
But you, who must know everything,
Care little for my pride.

You, with eyes of steel, rebut
Without a word my pain,
And with a passion pitiless
Undo me once again.

The truth is ever loving, though
It recks not how we feel.
And you, who are the truth, love me
Too much to let me heal.

HAPPY FORTY-FIRST ANNIVERSARY

Happy forty-first anniversary!
As years accrue, love simplifies its song,
Perhaps because it's mastered well the art,
Perhaps because the notes are so well known,
Yielding to the ease of the familiar.
For years now, you have honed the harmony,
Omitting inner voices that sound wrong,
Refining melodies to fit each part,
Tailoring the temper to the tone,
Yearning for the beauty that you render.
Fleeting though the music, what will be
Indelibly enduring is the long,
Romantic revelation of the heart,
Sign that one need never be alone,
Though even such grace cannot last forever.

TO LOSE SOMEONE WHO'S LOVED YOU ALL YOUR LIFE

To lose someone who's loved you all your life,
Having held you long against the darkness,
And felt the press of friends upon your sadness,
Need cutting through your torment like a knife . . .
Kindness is a sign of inner plenty:
Yours does much to mitigate my pain.
Of grief comes neither clarity nor gain
Unless friends fill its passion with their beauty.