The Wedding Dress

( for Dale)

It’s a simple thing, slight at the strapless top and

Sliding down the hips to

A graceful line that is representative of so much

More than A

Foundationally secure, broad beamed solidity

Reaching to a vaulted conclusion

The first thing you learn when you learn to write

Words ,

Some of which will form the sentence

That changed your life

Like

Will you marry

And I love

And til death

Or some other

Unforseeable catastrophe comes along

To separate you both

(But not in this life, he says, smiling that smile that wins you

Every time)

But this dress is layered over with a strong

Lace, hinting at delicacy but you could hang a

Window from it that will open to a world that you

Once glimpsed but didn’t have the guts to

Enter, this shell sloping from the knees to the dipping

Right above the heels not a train but not

Nothing, a statement of freedom to wear sandals, not heels,

flowers in your hair, no veil between you and yours

The tatoo between the angel wings of your

Back exposes the tale of what makes

You tick

And he is standing there at the front of a room festooned

With callas or magnolias, green ivy for life and hope

and some guitar playing ex

now married to your sister, both trying

Not to cry, singing,

grinning like silly goons because

They heard you swear, yes

You swore that after all the broken hearted,

You would never ever wear a dress like this one

Shimmering in joy

Looking at the soul of your predetermined

Destiny

Clothed in the body of a man

You would give your life to;

And do.