It is National Poetry Month and what a pleasure to hear one of my mother's poems on "A Celebration of Poetry" on NPR's Diane Rehm Show this morning.

Old Wives, by E.J. Mudd

What did we think

when we promised

to love and cherish

What did we think

when we promised

to love and cherish

those barely known men

til death did us part

and all that?

 

I think what we heard

was the first set of terms—

for richer

for better

in health.

 

Who bothered to look

through the mist of tulle

at the contrary side

of the verse

for poorer

in sickness

for worse?

 

Who ventured a question—

How poor? In what sense?

How sick? Where sick? For how long?

For worse? Were there limits to worse?

 

Well, never mind now

after all these years.

We’ve seen it from both sides now.

The point is

that all of us

promised we would

and some of us

actually did.

those barely known men

til death did us part

and all that?

 

I think what we heard

was the first set of terms—

for richer

for better

in health.

 

Who bothered to look

through the mist of tulle

at the contrary side

of the verse

for poorer

in sickness

for worse?

 

Who ventured a question—

How poor? In what sense?

How sick? Where sick? For how long?

For worse? Were there limits to worse?

 

Well, never mind now

after all these years.

We’ve seen it from both sides now.

The point is

that all of us

promised we would

and some of us

actually did.

What did we think