Till Death Do Us Part Poem by Tafadzwa Mhondiwa Mugari

He with a book, keeping the light on late,
She like a girl dreaming of childhood,
All thoughts elsewhere - it is as if they wait
Some new event: the book he holds unread,
Her eyes fixed on the shadows overhead.

Tossed up like flotsam from a former passion,
How cool they lie. They hardly ever touch,
Or if they do it is like a confession
Of having little feeling - or too much.
Chastity faces them, a destination
For which their whole lives were a preparation.

Strangely apart, yet strangely close together,
Silence between them like a thread to hold
And not wind in. And time itself's a feather
Touching them gently. Do they know they're old,
These two who are my father and my mother
Whose fire from which I came, has now grown cold?
'One Flesh' by Elizabeth Jennings

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'Lifelong *best friends*
God said, 'It is not good that man should be alone.
I will make him a helper comparable to him.'

Separated to one another
Therefore, a man shall leave his father and mother

Total committment to one another
And be joined to his wife

*Glued together*
And they shall become one flesh.

Total intimacy
They were both naked, the man and his wife,

Total honesty
And were not ashamed.
Genesis 2.18; 2.24-25 '