Tribute to a Marriage
By: Loukia Borrell
Blue Heron Review
2015
We planted you after we married
Because you were different and
We thought we were different, too
And perhaps you would grow to offer us shade
Where we could rest as we reached a certain age
You were knee high at first
When we put you in the ground
After we said our vows in a gazebo
On a farm in the middle of summer
As beads of sweat popped up across our foreheads
And we swore before a woman we didn’t know
That we were in love and always would be
You grew and as you became taller
The neighbors would stop by on their walks
Or stop us in Kroger and marvel at your
Sword-like leaves, deep green and pointing skyward
Yellow flowers that came every spring
In clusters, bursting plumes that swayed in the wind
We wrapped your hairy trunk in a blue tarp
During the harshest winters and kept lights on you
To keep you warm when we were most afraid that you would die
And year after year, you came back to us
When the grass burst green and the dogwoods were heavy with white flowers
You were taller than all of them and we were married, still
