Anniversary Forty Two

By. Rev. Ronald Jansen

Forty Two years ago and twenty four hours after I graduated from the seminary Becky and I were married at Redeemer Lutheran church in Desoto, Mo.  I thought that for number forty two a dash of Ogden Nash might do.

In the forward of his collection of poems on marriage, Marriage Lines, Nash writes, “After a third of a century of marriage I find myself still a student husband. I have done my reading, my research and my homework; I have tangled with trial and error, theory and practice.  Yet today I feel as far from my diploma as on that afternoon in June when I stood at the altar in a state of mingled triumph and trepidation.”

I Do, I Will , I Have

I know that marriage is a legal and religious alliance
    Entered into by a man who can’t sleep with the
     window shut and a woman who can’t sleep with the window open.

That is why marriage is so much more interesting
    than divorce,
Because it’s the only known example of the happy
    meeting of the immovable object and the irresistible force,
So I hope husbands and wives will continue to debate
    And combat over everything debatable and combatable,
    Because I believe a little incompatibility is the spice of life,
    Particularly if he has income and she is pattable.

A Word to Husbands
To keep your marriage brimming,
With love in the loving cup,
Whenever you’re wrong, admit it;
Whenever you’re right, shut up.

How Can Echo Answer what Echo Cannot Hear?

Whenever her talk is restricted
To topics inconsequential
She utters it face to face,
With clarity reverential.

Then why, when there’s something important to say,
Does she always say it going away?
She’ll remark, as she mounts the stairs to bed,
“Oh some FBI man called and said…”

Knowing her custom, knowing the wont of her,
I spend my life circling to get in front of her.

Comments

[jim_claybourn]

Congratulations!

I'm a fan of Ogden Nash, and my wife and I will celebrate our 35th this weekend, so it's doubly good.

Thanks for the poem!

[Ronald Jansen]

I'm glad you enjoyed the dash of Nash. Thanks for reading The Lutheran Review.