5 Poems on Marriage

1. The Ideal Husband To His Wife by Sam Walter Foss

We've lived for forty years, dear wife, And walked together side by side, And you to-day are just as dear As when you were my bride. I've tried to make life glad for you, One long, sweet honeymoon of joy, A dream of marital content, Without the least alloy. I've smoothed all boulders from our path, That we in peace might toil along, By always hastening to admit That I was right and you were wrong. No mad diversity of creed Has ever sundered me from thee; For I permit you evermore To borrow your ideas of me. And thus it is, through weal or woe, Our love forevermore endures; For I permit that you should take My views and creeds, and make them yours. And thus I let you have my way, And thus in peace we toil along, For I am willing to admit That I am right and you are wrong. And when our matrimonial skiff Strikes snags in love's meandering stream, I lift our shallop from the rocks, And float as in a placid dream. And well I know our marriage bliss While life shall last will never cease; For I shall always let thee do, In generous love, just what I please. Peace comes, and discord flies away, Love's bright day follows hatred's night; For I am ready to admit That you are wrong and I am right.

2. Never Marry But For Love by William Penn

Never marry but for love;but see that thou lovest what is lovely.If love be not the chiefest motive,thou wilt soon grow weary of a married state and stray from thy promise,to search out thy pleasures in forbidden places...Between a man and his wife nothing ought to rule but love ...As love ought to bring them together,so it is the best way to keep them well together.A husband and wife that love and value one another show their children...that they should do so too.Others visibly lose authority in their families by their contempt of one another,and teach their children to be unnatural by their own examples.Let not enjoyment lessen,but augment, affection;it being the basest of passions to like when we have not,what we slight when we possess.Here it is we ought to search out our pleasure,where the field is large and full of variety,and of an enduring nature;sickness,poverty or disgrace being not able to shake it because it is not under the moving influences of worldly contingencies.Nothing can be more entire and without reserve;nothing more zealous,affectionate and sincere;nothing more contented than such a couple,nor greater temporal felicity than to be one of them.

3. The Wedded Lover by Christopher Morley

I READ in our old journals of the days When our first love was April-sweet and new, How fair it blossomed and deep-rooted grew Despite the adverse time; and our amaze At moon and stars and beauty beyond praise That burgeoned all about us: gold and blue The heaven arched us in, and all we knew Was gentleness. We walked on happy ways.They said by now the path would be more steep, the sunsets paler and less mild the air; Rightly we heeded not; it was not true. We will not tell the secret-let it keep. I know not how I thought those days so fair These being so much fairer, spent with you

4. To A Friend On His Marriage by Samuel Rogers

On thee, blest youth, a father's hand confersThe maid thy earliest, fondest wishes knew.Each soft enchantment of the soul is hers;Thine be the joys to firm attachment due.As on she moves with hesitating grace,She wins assurance from his soothing voice;And, with a look the pencil could not trace,Smiles thro' her blushes, and confirms the choice.Spare the fine tremors of her feeling frame!To thee she turns-forgive a virgin's fears!To thee she turns with surest, tenderest claim;Weakness that charms, reluctance that endears!At each response the sacred rite requires,From her full bosom bursts the unbidden sigh.A strange mysterious awe the scene inspires;And on her lips the trembling accents die.O'er her fair face what wild emotions play!What lights and shades in sweet confusion blend!Soon shall they fly, glad harbingers of day,And settled sunshine on her soul descend!Ah soon, thine own confest, ecstatic thought!That hand shall strew thy summer-path with flowers;And those blue eyes, with mildest lustre fraught,Gild the calm current of domestic hours!

5. Call It A Good Marriage by Robert Graves

Call it a good marriage - For no one ever questioned Her warmth, his masculinity,Their interlocking views;Except one stray graphologistWho frowned in speculation At her h's and her s's, His p's and w's.Though few would still subscribeTo the monogamic axiomThat strife below the hip-bonesNeed not estrange the heart,Call it a good marriage:More drew those two together,Despite a lack of children,Than pulled them apart.Call it a good marriage:They never fought in public,They acted circumspectlyAnd faced the world with pride;Thus the hazards of their love-bedWere none of our damned business - Till as jurymen we sat on Two deaths by suicide.