FAST Sonnets in Cyberspace #14

A Wedding Poem

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“With this ring I wed thee,” we pledged that day
when diamond-vow made moons before our sun
gave cause to rise — we gave our lives away,
by holy stream and forest wise undone.
Un-secure I felt, undone still — sunset
vision, a beauty framed in brilliant light
descends from virgin clouds — can I forget
memory’s haunting dreams of son-sad night?
Oh, still my hope of home, like sunrise roar,
grows day by day — though surely rising slow —
and held in soar-embrace, I wait-endure.
Love’s mystery remains, but this I know:
Every wife-jewel costs all beauty on earth —
And all jewels pale in light of her love’s worth.

© Bruce William Deckert 1992-2021 — posted: August 2021

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• August 2021

POETRY 411 NOTES

• Marriage Memories
More than three decades ago this month — on August 6, 1988 — Mina and I were married on a blazing day at an amazing venue: an outdoor sanctuary in Connecticut’s spectacular Farmington Valley. I penned the original version of this sonnet for her in the early days of our marriage — the above version has been revised, making the sentiment less personal and more global in certain ways, given what has transpired in the past couple of years … anyone who is aware of the recent history of our relationship understands the heartbreaking circumstance I’m referring to.

• Marriage Musings #1
Yet to me, the occasion of our wedding is surely worth commemorating upon this 33rd anniversary of the month we married. The reality of our union as seen in our son and daughter will make every anniversary of our wedding day worthy of celebrating, in the midst of heartache — a heartache, by the way, that every spouse in every marriage experiences and that is part-and-parcel of the true joy and true love of the marital union. Indeed, marriage heartache well-endured and well-managed leads to deeper joy and truer love when both spouses want and seek such rapture together.

• Marriage Musings #2
When the endurance runs longer, measured by decades not years, the love and joy grow stronger … when both spouses choose to cultivate their relationship with companionship and camaraderie — like garden flowers given the tender care of time and the rootedness of long-term commitment and the fertilizer of forgiveness.

• Marriage Musings #3
Yes, heartache attends every human heart, as the close companion to and flip side of hopeful joy — and therefore every spouse in every marriage of a human man and woman can experience a paradoxical hopeful heartache, whether the marriage is hitting on all cylinders or, conversely, is splitting like the atom. Yet even then, when the marriage splits open like an atomic blast, wounding hearts in a perfect and horrific storm, the ensuing energy can be harnessed — for wholesome and life-giving destruction as well as conclusive and life-growing construction.

Whew … who knew true love is such a messy blessing of paradox and poignancy, of gravity and buoyancy, of modesty and flamboyancy … OK, maybe I’m getting carried away, but I sense another sonnet in the wind.

• Ring of Truth
Since this blog focuses on faith-and-sports issues, each FAST Sonnet in Cyberspace has a sports connection — in this case, see the first-line reference to a ring … yes, a fleeting and perhaps oblique sports theme, yet fitting. The Olympic rings are the symbol of the ultimate in athletic training and achievement — and given the New Testament’s elucidation vis-à-vis the training and true love Jesus of Nazareth offers His bride, aka the body of Christ, the connection is as clear as day. Jesus also promises to be with and stay with His bride, providing the ability and can-do perseverance and wherewithal to make this marriage work … that is, both survive and thrive.

• Sonnet Synopsis
This is an English (or Shakespearean) sonnet — a 14-line poem with 10 syllables per line, comprised of three four-line stanzas and a closing couplet, employing this rhyme scheme: abab cdcd efef gg.

• Busy-Friendly Poetry
In my book, the sonnet is the best poem for the ever-busy residents of the 21st century — no time for lengthy free verse? No problem … a sonnet takes perhaps a minute to read.

Someday, I may post the original version of this sonnet — in the meantime, thanks for stopping by.