Today's poem is by Todd Osborne

Epithalamium for Mo and Susanna
       

Some pray for rain and wait, expecting
a return for their actions. Some act.

Some claim that love will save them
and some that there is no Love. Each of

these choices are certainly chooseable but
I tell you this: those who believe

and do nothing are lesser than those who
act with no belief. Those who pour love

into the lives of those around them
are surely greater than those who hoard

their love. For any two who believe
there is something worth salvaging

in this misbegotten world—that must
be love. Poets, it is said, only write

of death and love, for what else
is there to write about? I tell you this:

poets only write about one thing:
love and how it moves within them.

The world we see may not last, but
Love must. Many wish to live forever

but the closest the world has come
is when a poet writes about the one

they love. I love you both, my sisters,
and with whatever power poetry may

possess, I bless your union. May your
joys be more joyous because of each other,

may your griefs be less grievous. When
your anger is stoked by an unkind word

or a thoughtless action, do not think
of this day—for this day will surely fade—

but recall a brighter memory—a sunlit
walk, a morning conversation, how you

feel when the other comes home from work,
takes off her shoes, and you ask: "How was

your day?" The smallest moments will add up,
one flower and one flower and one flower.

What is a marriage if not the act of choosing
the other each day? A choice like that

cannot be unmade. That choice must be love.

Tweet

Copyright © 2024 Todd Osborne All rights reserved
from Gatherer
Belle Point Press
Reprinted by Verse Daily® with permission