(in contemplation of thirty-five years)

These days you and I
move forward in easy step,
our common yoke our common dream
we lean into together

The unutterable magnitude
of our aspiration
leaves us often in silence,
or we talk of tasks and plans
as if those were the sum of our engagement

But our hope, laced far too often
with the fear we will not speak
binds us more deeply
than years, than memories —
in some moments we may fathom
we are closer than as one
our life together
less choice than destiny.

©Wendy Mulhern
September 26, 2017