To the Lady in the Woods

By Joe Cunningham

 

A poem for Ben’s Wedding: April 9th, 2016

I knew your husband since we were young:

We fought the neighbor kids and won,

We ran ice-covered mountains in the sun,

We knew a language known to none;

We were like brothers.

We are like brothers.

We both faced things that no one knows,

I watched him go where no one goes,

I know there was a time he froze,

A while -

From the sorrow of a thousand woes.

He never spoke much about it.

He knows he’s better off without it.

We walked that lonely road

Together. And as we picked our pieces up - the load,

It one day turned for him from winter’s cold,

To a fair summer’s sun, and gold.

For from that moment he told me your name,

I knew he’d never be the same -

“Theresa.”

You lit an everlasting flame.

His joy and wholeness, yours to blame.

Many happy returns to you both.

Your “brother,”

Joe