Anniversary Wedding

Happy anniversary, my love:
After all these years, my lover still!
Perhaps we've come this far by force of will;
Perhaps by what sweet winds within us move.
Years alone do not decisive prove,
As time's a box that holds both good and ill;
Nor can one long be loving without skill;
Nor long be cool below and warm above.
In you I've found a shoreline for my sea
Vast enough to hold me in its arms,
Embracing both the turbulence and deep,
Reconciling me to limitation.
So may you find a wilderness in me,
A place of windswept waves and rippled calms,
Restoring you to realms you cannot reap,
Yielding neither home nor destination.

Nicholas Gordon

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