Vows

My friend, Karen, complained to me recently that I don't blog enough. Since she's confirmed that I have at least one reader, this entry is for her.

A couple of weekends ago, Karen and her husband, Frank, celebrated thirteen years of marriage by renewing their vows on the roof garden of the spectacular Belvedere, a fabulous 1925 apartment building-turned-condos in the North Avondale neighborhood of Cincinnati. Karen and Frank own a condo in the building, and the roof garden on a late September afternoon was a perfect setting for the intimate ceremony.




The day was one of those breezy, golden days in early fall: blue skies and clouds just heavy enough to squat over the roof garden like big balloons. There were only twelve people at the ceremony, and that included the vow renewers.




The informal ceremony was just lovely. Their friend and neighbor, Richard read a poem, and then our friend, Wanda, read a poem by Ohio poet, James Wright. Karen and Wanda went to a James Wright festival several years ago, and Karen fell in love with Wright and the poem. Here it is:

JUST OFF THE HIGHWAY TO ROCHESTER, MINNESOTA

Twilight bounds softly out on the grass.
They have come gladly out of the willows
To welcome my friend and me
We step over the barbed wire into the pasture
Where they have been grazing all day, alone.
And the eyes of those two Indian ponies
Darken.
I would like to hold the slenderer one in my arms,
For she has walked over to me
And nuzzled my left hand.
She is black and white,
Her mane falls wild on her forehead.
At home once more,
They begin munching the young tufts of spring in the darkness.
I think
That if I stepped out of my body I would break
Into blossom.

Karen and Frank read their vows, and that was definitely the highlight of the ceremony. All those years ago, when they met, I don't think either of them anticipated that they would ever meet someone they would forge a life with, but they did. Both of them talked about their marriage in ways that let the ten of us in attendance see their love, yes, but also the most incredible support and acceptance they give each other. The things they expressed to each other seem rare to me--certainly worthy of celebrating.






After the vows, their friend, Barbara read a surprise poem--a delightful piece she wrote about the years she and her husband had spent with Karen and Frank as Belvedere neighbors and friends, and then I brought up the rear with a poem by e.e. cummings, the 20th century modernist. Here's the poem I read (it was an abbreviated version):

i thank You God for most this amazing
day:for the leaping greenly spirits of trees
and a blue true dream of sky; and for everything
which is natural which is infinite which is yes

(i who have died am alive again today,
and this is the sun's birthday; this is the birth
day of life and of love and wings: and of the gay
great happening illimitably earth)




After the ceremony, we went downstairs to their condo for a small reception. A friend and neighbor of the happy couple joined us then, rounding the number to an appropriate thirteen: thirteen people celebrating thirteen years. Perfect.



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