A Happy Marriage
John Swofford

To say that I love you would be uncouth,
But it would be the honest to God truth,
And I know somehow that we would survive—
When our sins, at the end of this, we shrive,

Leaving us to a life of desire;
I don’t know what your life shall require:
We all need purpose, if not vocation.
I’m determined to build a foundation

That will keep us safely squirreled away
If or when the devil we’re forced to pay—
To balance out all the goodness we share,
And the time, in gratitude, we repair.

I guess, however, when things fall apart,
I remain, then, when you give me a start,
There’s no loophole in the marriage we prove:
You are the animus that I behoove.