So many years of marriage should be marked,
they say, by china – the product, of course,
not the place. So a sturdy mug for us
from the Five Towns – or a translucent
teapot from Nanking? China, it is:
willows by a stream, a template of an
eastern Eden and, on the bridge, two –
or three? I know a better token.
Two pear trees in our daughter’s garden were
remnants of an orchard before the town grew.
A jasmine, a grapevine and the trees
had grown together in sure companionship.
With fruit (albeit a tad vintage!), leaves
for modesty, dappled shade in sharp sun,
rich perfume on a summer night, you –
a surely unbreakable paradise.
By David Selzer