Vows

by Denise Mozilo Frasca
(Katonah, New York)

Vows
– To A & B

Love each other even at your darkest,
When your soul is pricked by splinter
and your thoughts smolder with misunderstanding

Love each other even at your finest
When the world is in your palm
and others admire the sway of your walk

Love each other honestly,
Without self-seeking imaginings or superiority;

Love each other so that you rise up
like a thousand golden butterflies
And lie down like a kitten in its mother’s curl

Love each other
Through mist and stone, through starlight and river

So that the muscle of your love
Will grow thick enough to wrestle the harshest storms,
Brave the deepest abyss,
And build back the debris of the most sudden shipwreck.

Love each other on this day
That you vow eternal devotion
And remember it
Practice it
Hold on to it

‘Til death do you part.