Because someone asked for a poem for their wedding day...

The Unspoken Vows.

For Jim and Becky on their Wedding Day.

You stand before one another today
Expectant, full of love,
And recite the traditional vows so many have before you,
And will after.
The simple, elegant vows of marriage, each word chosen with such care
To convey precise meaning, not one wasted,
Romantic, timeless,
Lovely.

But there is much they leave unsaid;
It may be the only limitation of the ceremony.
So much that the two of you will give to one another down through the years
In the name of love,
So much that you vow to each other, unknowingly, today.

Shall we speak of them now?
While we may?
Those nights when sleep won’t come and the other offers to make tea,
Dark days that weigh you down and the other gently lifts you up,
When your child needs guidance and the other finds the time,
The times she will see beauty in you when you see none in yourself.
How he’ll want others to see everything that you are, and can be.

It’s these unspoken vows that will see you through
day to day, year to year,
Side by side,
And speak volumes in their silence.


Tricia McCallum
April 8, 2010