Twenty Years

Twenty years, twenty years now, of marital bliss
Have sped through our lives like Apollo’s wing’d cart.
Cupid’s swift arrow did not go amiss
But laced with its potion, swept straight to my heart.
Suffused with a passion, ensnared in a kiss,
Bonded together through one fatal dart,
It’s burst into flower like the wild clematis
That clings to the bower and never will part.
Together we’ve weathered the East Wind’s chill blows
And now in the sunshine we bloom like a rose.

‘Tis hard, as I ponder this twenty year track,
To think that we’ve travelled so far and so long,
Some pages may fade in our shared almanac,
And sometimes I flail at the words of a song.
My feet should feel sore when I turn and look back,
My muscles should cry out that something is wrong,
But I don’t feel the weight of this old haversack
As I turn to the future, replenished and strong.
With you at my side, ever onward we’ll march
Through meadows of bluebells and forests of larch.

Ever on, ever onward, with you at my side,
We’ll bob on the waves as the autumn sun gleams.
Through doldrums or thunder, we’ll sail on the tide
That once governed journeys of proud quinqueremes.
The ocean ahead may be stormy and wide
And pierced with the echoes of mariners’ screams,
But with hope as our sail and with love as our guide,
We’ll follow the charts to the land of our dreams.
Ever on, ever onwards, I’ll cling to your hand
Till the harbour town lights bring us safely to land.