Vow

I have taken you these fifteen years hence
To be whatever it is we have here:
A lover, spouse, friend, brother, recompense –
To have and hold so infinitely near.

I have taken you when poor and when rich,
Revelled in your health and embraced you sick,
I’ve ignored your eye, unravelled each glitch,
I have brought you love and I made it stick.

From that September, to this day forward,
I’ve taken your better, suffered your worse,
I’ve fought against despair; I’ve been your ward
And trekked through many a wish and a curse.

I persist to offer this ruined heart,
‘Til death doth, consenting, force it to part.

This is not what I chose to feel

This is not what I choose to feel,
When all I did was hold you dear;
I’m now hurt with no hope to heal
And instead of love, I taste fear.

The days of happiness die fast,
The tangled moments have no respite,
What will, eventually, last
Is gathered pain, after each fight.

I find that I must cringe and rue
The pain of life, the loss of love,
Who must I relegate blame to:
A devil below, a god above?

But I walked with open eyes,
Thinking this is what should be done
To hold joy before it wilts and dies,
To gather flowers under the sun.

If the skies greyed and storms began,
What matter who merits the blame;
All that counts is I was my own man,
Who held to each rule of this game.