What Makes A Marriage? Poem by Albert Ahearn

It has been almost forty years
Since we had taken our marriage
Vows. Yes, we are still together.
I guess that means something today

Considering most never last
More than, I suspect, a few years;
Sometimes I can understand why
Marriage is not a piece of cake.

In the beginning all is fine
Everything is brand spanking new
But that finish dulls quite quickly.
That moment after the “I do’s”

The gravity of the marriage
Begins to materialize.
Vowing for better or for worse
Were just words uttered thoughtlessly.

Like reciting a bedtime prayer
Never actually listening
To each word we recite by rote
The truth is, marriage is both words

“Better” is a relative term:
What could be considered better
For me would not necessarily
Be the same view held by my wife.

Therefore we are both compromised
And there’s the rub of the matter.
Marriage is a balancing act
That’s between better and the worse.

Learn the knack of juggling the two
The marriage will certainly last.
In those years we’ve become a team
And we’re both still madly in love.