Let me not to the Marriage of
True Minds Admit Impediments²
A Long Marriage makes Shorthand
Possible: the Everything needn’t be Said³
Marriage is a Long Journey at Close Quarters⁴
I Give myself to him and Take himself for Pay –
The solemn Contract of a Life is Ratified this way⁵
Eatables the Bride and Bride-Groom have wisely
Forbidden, as their Love will be All-Sufficient⁶
To keep your Marriage Brimming, with Love
In the loving cup: whenever you’re Wrong,
Admit it – whenever you’re Right, Shut up⁷
He shall Forgo Father & Mother, and
To his Wife Adhere, and they shall
Be One Flesh, one Heart, one Soul⁸
My Heart’s in a Deadlock – I’d
Face even Wedlock with You⁹
In Twenty-Five years she’ll
Be Silver – in Fifty, Gold¹⁰
¹ Anonymous, A Gest of Robyn Hode
² William Shakespeare, Sonnet CXVI
³ Gwendolyn Brooks, Shorthand Possible
⁴ Iris Murdoch, The Black Prince
⁵ Emily Dickinson, I Gave Myself
⁶ Hans Christian Andersen, The Sandman
⁷ Ogden Nash, A Word to Husbands
⁸ John Milton, Paradise Lost
⁹ Vernon Duke & E. Y. Harburg, What Is There to Say?
¹⁰ Sylvia Plath, The Applicant