The Miracle Of Marriage

Marriage is the union

Of two people in love,

And love is sheer magic

For it's woven of

Gossamer dreams

Enchantingly real

That people in love

Are privileged to feel.

But the "exquisite ecstasy"

That captures the heart

Of two people in love

Is just a small part

Of the beauty and wonder

And miracle of

The growth and fulfillment

And evolvement of love.

For only long years

Of living together

And sharing and caring

In all kinds of weather

Both pleasure and pain,

The glad and the sad,

Teardrops and laughter,

The good and the bad,

Can add new dimensions

And lift love above

The rapturous ecstasies

Of "falling in love."

For ecstasy passes

But it is replaced

By something much greater

That cannot be defaced,

For what was "in part"

Has now "become whole" -

For on the "wings of the flesh, "

Love entered the soul!

Helen Stieiner Rice

Dedicated to my late wife, Sheri Clark, 8/1/1963- 12/18/2014