Vows
In sickness and in health
This poem captures how events in my own life have crystallized for me what it means to live a lifetime with another person. I am lucky.
Vows
In sickness
and in health,
we vowed to one another,
abstract promises between bride and groom.
In sickness and in health,
we vowed to one another,
years before I stood by your bedside, waiting.
Salient words, to a pacing father-to-be.
You endured gestational tribulations;
I was thankful that at least
each ended happily.
In sickness and in health,
we vowed to one another,
years before I stood by their bedside, waiting.
Profound words, to parents of young children.
They fought asthma and anaphylaxis;
I was thankful that at least
they recovered quickly.
In sickness and in health,
we vowed to one another,
years before you stood at my bedside, waiting.
Painfully accurate words, ailing in midlife.
I became a doctor turned patient;
I was thankful that at least
I made it back home.
In sickness and in health,
we vowed to one another,
decades ere one of us will stand by the other.
Inevitable words, after a lifetime together.
We must face time’s relentless march;
I am hopeful that at least
we will not suffer
too deeply.
In sickness and in health,
for richer, and for poorer,
to have, and to hold,
til death do us part,
I vow to thee.