19 November 2007

Diamond Wedding


.

By Andrew Motion, the Poet Laureate


LOVE found a voice and spoke two names aloud –
two private names, though breezed through public air –
and joined them in a life where duty spoke
in languages their tenderness could share,


A life remote from ours because it asked
each day, each action to be kept in view,
and yet familiar in the trust it placed
in human hearts, in hearts remaining true.

The years stacked up and as their weight increased
they pressed the stone of time to diamond,
immortal-mortal in its brilliant strength,
a jewel of earth where lightnings correspond.

Now every facet holds a picture-glimpse:
In some, the family faces and the chance
for ordinary talk and what-comes-next;
in others, shows of pomp and circumstance.

And here, today, the diamond proves itself
as something of our own yet not our own –
a blaze of trust, the oneness made of two;
the ornament and lodestar of the crown.

2 comments:

On the side of the angels said...

..they gazed into each others eyes, their hearts were all a quiver,
she gave a cough,
his head fell off,
and floated down the river...

quite saddening really...

Red Maria said...

Yeah, splendid couple the pair of them. Especially that old bird who ordered - ordered! - her daughter in law to submit to a divorce against her will. Very Christian. And she gave her permission for her son and her horse-faced daughter to go through pantomime "weddings" in Christian churches, in other words, gave her gracious royal approval to their flagrant adultery. Yeah, very Christian.
We pay the bird millions a year, for doing nothing more onerous than waving and this spoilt bird can't even keep her coronation oath and raise her children properly. She deserves the sack.