Marriage of a Sarah

One of my high school friends got married recently...

Marriage of a Sarah

by Regina K. Pride

 

Ever since it happened
I can't stop thinking about time; 
the winds, twists and turns,
never ending cycle of complex events.
Traveling like a train
until it meets the sun
and the edge of the sea.

I congratulate her on her new excursion,
anticipate endless bliss,
a flood of crimson petal roses,
fresh painted white fences,
and his and her coffee mugs.
I congratulate her as if this has no effect on me.

 

It does.

I wish her happiness
throwing rice at the grainy concrete ground,
the ground true love walked on,
as she flees in their "just married" horse drawn carriage,
followed by two rusty tin cans bouncing off the road.

Everyone knows the ending to this fairytale;
she's been dreaming about it for years.
I want that for her
but as she speeds away;
I am aging,
I am dying.

Miles down the road
they buy a house together
in some fleshy suburban neighborhood,
travel together (she's always wanted to see France),
eat sushi together on the sands of some beach
and then they have children together-
in their spitting image.
Then I will look at their pictures
feeling different emotions all at once.

I'm happy for Sarah,
happy that she found the one,
happy that her happiness spreads like fever
to her lungs and makes her sing,

happy that this is all happening so
very fast and there's nothing
I can do about it.

Author's Note

What needs to be fixed?