by Helen Steiner Rice

Marriage is the union of two people in love,
And love is sheer magic for it's woven of
Gossamer dreams, enchantingly real,
That people in love are privileged to feel- But the "exquisite ecstasy" that captures the heart
Of two people in love is just a small part
Of the beauty and wonder and miracle of
The growth and fulfillment and evolvement of love-
For only long years of living together
And sharing and caring in all kinds of weather
Both pleasure and pain, the glad and the sad,
and the bad,
Teardrops and laughter, the good
Can add new dimensions and lift love above
The rapturous ecstasies of "falling in love"-
For ecstasy passes but it is replaced
By something much greater that cannot be defaced,
For what was "in part" has now "become whole"-
For on the "wings of the flesh," love entered the soul!