Here there are no angels of despair.
Arrayed in choirs, they sing only of joy.
Performing for the sheer delight of being,
Poised between the act of sight and seeing,
Yet infinite, yet of this earth, they toy
Scholastically with being here nor there,
Eden’s hosts, though none the worse for wear.
Come down from that sweet hilltop, anguish fleeing,
On those they light who for another care,
Now filling with their ecstasy the air,
Dear hints of bliss no evil can destroy.

The sky is torn across
This ragged anniversary of two
Who moved for three years in tune
Down the long walks of their vows.

Now their love lies a loss
And Love and his patients roar on a chain;
From every tune or crater
Carrying cloud, Death strikes their house.

Too late in the wrong rain
They come together whom their love parted:
The windows pour into their heart
And the doors burn in their brain.

Let me hold your hand, as we go downhill,
We’ve shared our strength, and we share it still,
It hasn’t been easy to make the climb,
But the way was eased by your hand in mine.

Like the lake, our life, has had ripples too,
Ill health and worries, and payments due,
With happy pauses along the way,
A graduation, a raise in pay.

At the foot of the slope, we will stop and rest,
Look back if you wish, we’ve been truly blessed,
We’ve been spared the grief of being torn apart,
By death or divorce, or a broken heart.

The view ahead, is one of the best,
Just a little further, and then we can rest,
We move more slowly, but together still,
Let me hold your hand, as we go downhill.

Until we met I didn’t know
How light a heart could be;
How, chained to one by bonds of love,
I still could feel so free.

I didn’t realize that my dreams
Could ever be so real;
Or when I had all I could want,
Exactly how I’d feel.

This year of love has brought me through
A long-awaited door:
Were angels parked along our skies,
I could not love you more.