Wednesday, June 15, 2011

The Odd Couple



Miss Summer always had a bounce in her step
leftover from Spring
the sweet yellow lemonade sun her childhood playmate
always outside and on the go,
back and forth like the pendulum swing set,
running like a spinning sprinkler,
dancing like the windchimes on the back porch,
and wondering when the next breeze would relieve the heat
of those pipe dreams behind her fanciful eyes.
She didn't expect to fall in love with Mr. Winter
peering at his handsome silhouette through the falling leaves of Autumn
like cheering from the top row bleechers
in those icy breath football Friday nights,
sneeking a peak back at him through the March fog
after those Spring rains when the frost melts to dew
and those slumbering buds first stretch and yawn.
She admired from a distance his quiet strength
the rest in his silent snowfalls
the glistening ice enveloping the bare branches
stripped of their leafy clothes, naked and vulnerable.
when families stayed inside together
like a warm womb or cozy cocoon
where everything slows and grows in hidden stillness.
Yet somehow she caught his eye.
For years she tried to bring him to her bee-buzzing world
but it was too bright, too humid, too frantic, too much.
She tried to run to him but she'd shiver and ache
her strong kisses cut short
behind the weakness of those chattering teeth.
His companion darkness that brought him blankety peace
only made her grieve and long for the sun.
But they held on by their fingertips
stretching and straddling the seasons life would bring them.
Meeting for rendevous picnics in the blustery spring
laughing as the wind knocked them over a few times
trudging through the Fall mud hand in hand
when all she wanted to do was sprint back to summer grasses
and all he wanted to do was sit and wait til it hardens.
It's not a happily ever after story.
No, thanks to You, the creator of all seasons,
it's better than that.
Because, no matter what the season,
sometimes it's better to be in the shelter of the woods
than out of them
As long as you stick together.


"That quiet mutual gaze of a trusting husband and wife is like the first moment of rest or refuge from a great weariness or a great danger." ~George Eliot

"Out of respect for Christ, be courteously reverent to one another.
Wives, understand and support your husbands in ways that show your support for Christ. The husband provides leadership to his wife the way Christ does to his church, not by domineering but by cherishing. So just as the church submits to Christ as he exercises such leadership, wives should likewise submit to their husbands.
Husbands, go all out in your love for your wives, exactly as Christ did for the church—a love marked by giving, not getting. Christ's love makes the church whole. His words evoke her beauty. Everything he does and says is designed to bring the best out of her, dressing her in dazzling white silk, radiant with holiness. And that is how husbands ought to love their wives. They're really doing themselves a favor—since they're already "one" in marriage."
Ephesians 5:21-28 (Msg)

"A long marriage is two people trying to dance a duet and two solos at the same time." ~Anne Taylor Fleming