On A 50th Wedding Anniversary Poem by Richard Burke

She wore a dress with Belgian lace,
And he a morning suit.
Exchanging vows of life-long love,
While gathered friends stood mute.
To love in sickness or in health,
Be they rich or destitute.

Their wedding came at Christmas time,
Midst snow and skies of gray.
But walking down the long church isle,
Their steps were light and gay.
And you never saw a couple look
So hopefully at the day.

No couple lives a perfect life,
All joy and never pain.
Two million others wed that year,
Just half those bonds remain.
For all faced tests of steadfastness
That half could not sustain.

Some quarrel over money,
Some have a lustful eye,
Some fall to drugs or drinking,
Some prematurely die,
And some perceived as perfect mates,
Leave friends to wonder why.

But if half dissolve, half remain,
Sharing lives together.
To raise a family, build careers,
All life's storms to weather.
Their wedding vow not weighty chain,
But loving safety tether.

A marriage lasting fifty years,
Causes all to wonder:
What keeps one union tight and strong,
While others fall asunder.
A question for all newlyweds,
Carefully to ponder.

Three thoughts are offered by long wed,
To foster constancy:
Choose your mate for who they are,
Not who you'd have them be;
Live marriage as a partnership,
Both treated equally.

Infatuation is kindling,
But love sustains the fire.
Trust, truth and forgiveness,
Burn longer than desire,
And give to lasting marriages,
The nurturing they require.

I am that man in morning suit,
In Belgian lace my bride.
Fifty Christmases we've now spent,
As partners, side-by-side.
I could not want a greater gift,
Nor will I till I've died.

To my wife on our 50th Anniversary