TO MY MOST REMARKABLE ONE

A note to my most remarkable one

Tomorrow ends my time on earth alone

We join together for indeed all time

Start married life, our years sublime

Before family, mates, spirits too              

I'll promise my heart to thee

There's nowt on the planet we won't do

When you walk eternally with me

So  my troth,

      my wife,

          my life.

Source: The Boston Globe, April 13, 2014 - announcing the marriage of Elizabeth Griffin Crowley and Benjamin Franklin Sprayregen who married on April 6.2014 (I don't know about others but I found it extremely hard to find a newspaper that publishes wedding announcements...the Globe was about my 20th attempt. However, I thought this couple provided excellent names for the poem...only left out 5 letters of the alphabet!)

SUNDAY, APRIL 13: EPITHALAMIUM

An Oulipian epithalamium, or marriage song, is one composed

exclusively with the letters of the names of bride and groom

(bride and bride, groom and groom, etc). Visit the engagement or

wedding announcements section of your newspaper and select a

couple. Write a poem using only words that can be made with the

letters in their name. You may choose to use first names only if

you prefer anonymity or full names if you’re desperate for more

letters.

IN YOUR CHURCH

There to plan your memorial, I feel oddly discombobulated to open the doors and run into your great-grandsons (my grandsons) first thing. They too seem at odds with the context. What is this Grandma doing in Great-Grandma's church? Their eyes, the colour of prairie skies, regard me with the candid frankness only the very young are permitted. As soon as we speak to them, their Grandpa and I, they relax somewhat but seem eager to leave this place, where Great-Grandma has gone missing.