The Engagement Picture

He doesn’t see what will be,

or even what is,

blinded by her pearls at her neck,

and a pair of white gloves.

 

He doesn’t hear what he will for years,

just the pleasing tones of a

finishing-school graduate.

 

He doesn’t feel what he does now,

but something heady�"

what anyone might feel at twenty-one and

far from home.

 

This courtship of the sixties

in the conservative Midwest

missed out on peace, drugs, and free love.

She earned every stitch

of her white wedding gown.

 

Here they stand, side by side,

arms wrapped around waists

facing the world together.

Then slowly, but at equal distance,

they each began to tilt away,

until there was nothing left between them

except a quarter century of air,

a pair of white gloves,

and a pearl choker.