I was 38
He was 49
It seemed we knew
what we were doing

(he’d done it once before)

no one does
not fully anyway
how could anyone

predict the turbulence
the fraught years
filled with family drama

age doesn’t matter
commitment does
self doesn’t matter
other does

it has taken a lifetime
to understand what I wish
I’d known sooner
but there are

no I do overs

[Prompt Four: write a poem about the topic of marriage, without ever using the word marriage, and while also ideally avoiding the words spouse, husband, and wife.]