{This is a response to Friday Fictioneers, a photograph-inspired 100-word weekly prompt. Photo provided by Ted Strutz. I’m afraid I went over the limit, by five words: I could not make the rhythm work, without them.
Forgive me.
This collection of black-and-white and sepia pictures seemed to me, to evoke the story of a long marriage. My parents’ own marriage lasted just short of sixty years, until my mother’s death.
This incident devastated my father, whose love seemed quite single-minded. Although my father rarely fished, he certainly had done so, in earnest, when trying to catch his bride.
You should be aware, there is some irony in this poem, since, in her later years, my mother grew quite deaf.
Now that my father, too , has passed, I like to think they are back together–after their forced separation–and have begun to enjoy year sixty-one.}
Mom, with her cardigan,
Dad, with his pole:
So highly unlikely to wed.
Mama, so proper,
And Daddy, so droll,
Could hardly share one double bed.
Yet, Dad would be suitor,
Cajole her, and woo her,
And Mom, his entreaties would hear.
His pleas to recruit her,
Imploring with fervor—
Dumb luck!—would not fall on deaf ears.
As their marriage grew longer,
The grays and the sepias
Morphed, into reds, blues and greens;
The duet of their song,
Now, a dyspeptic warble,
Conflated, with infantile screams.
From now on, children gone,
To the faintest of songs,
They will dance in the deafness of dreams.
Copyright 2019 Andrea Ledew
For another poem of love with not quite the happy ending, read The Enclosed Garden.
Jacques
Andrea, your words are beautiful and like you, I am sure they are together again. Xx ♥️
Thank you Jane
Just lovely to think of them together beginning year 61 of their long marriage. How wonderful they were together for so long. 🙂 — Suzanne
Thanks Suzanne. It is a pleasant thought.
Your lovely poem is a beautiful tribute to your parent’s love for each other. Very nicely done! I’m sure they are together, enjoying year 61.
Thank you Brenda. I believe so, too. ?
I love the wooing. She seemed a bit reluctant at first but came around! Well done.
Faint heart never won fair maid…
This is beautiful. There is nothing better than staying in love and growing old together.
Thank you granonine. Very true.
Sixty years in one hundred words. Simply beautiful.
Here’s my story
Thank you Keith!
Always bitter sweet – lives that were lived, now gone.
A beautiful tribute to them. Great poem!
Thanks bear!
That was lovely 🙂
Thanks so much draliman!
How lovely.
Thanks Sandra. Feelings mixed and bittersweet, as I head into my father’s memorial. ?
I love the contrastive tools you used to show how different, and unlikely to end up together, they were. Despite how different, they had one important thing in common, their love for each other. <3 Wonderful poem.
Thank you otaku! A marriage of opposites in many ways and thank you for noticing how that was reflected in the structure.
Sure thing! Yes, which is funny because sometimes those work out better than the other marriages! ^^
Dear Andrea,
I applaud the longevity of your parents’ marriage and the sweetness of your verses.
Shalom,
Rochelle
Thanks Rochelle!
Your poem illustrated how time rolls onwards all to quick, well done.
Thanks Mike. Too true. Even the poem ended, before I wanted it to. ?
That’s a lovely poem, Andrea. I can feel your fondness seeping through the words. Just so very sweet
Thank you Lynn. I was blessed with a wonderful set of parents, a poet and a scientist.
My pleasure 🙂
Touching one. Well done.
I believe they’ll be together up there and watching you. They’ll love this poem too.
Thanks Anita. Hope so.
I think so, too!
Lovely, Andrea. Your poem in the previous post, “Jacques,” is also terrific.
Thanks so much Brad. Kind comments like yours spur me to write more!
I liked the deafness of dreams
Thank you, Neil.
You took the words out of my mouth! (Virtually speaking)