Two young brides in the family album
embraced new wifehood at twenty two.
In gossamer gowns on their blessed days,
in rituals of womanly blossoming,
they walked towards wifely happiness,
caring for husbands, raising their children,
all well loved in their homes.
Two young brides born across new thresholds
found a stern code of law in their homes;
wives and children grimly ruled,
daily obeying their breadwinner.
Two young brides in the family album
sixty three years apart.
One young bride, her own art extinguished,
burnt his art in glaring flames
on his final funeral pyre.
Her release was quiet widowhood
in her home now untroubled
by the breadwinner’s ice cold demands.
The other young bride found release in departing,
joining her teenagers’ exodus.
She made a new home,
new kitchen, new garden,
which grew in time to
swarm with children, grandchildren,
and a cheerful husband
flipping steaks on the barbecue
wine glass in hand.
lifecameos 
Most of the time, I think marriage highly overrated–at lest on the woman’s side. Men do what they want, women sacrifice. I know if I outlive my husband, I will never marry again.
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It certainly takes working at from both partners. The younger bride’s second marriage was a viable happy one. Indeed she is the widow in my poem in “St Kilda’s Bay Lament” which I posted on 16 January. Her distress made me feel really helpless.
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I’m happy the second marriage worked out. Sometimes people keep choosing the wrong person, over and over again.
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Thank you. Yes, the second one was good.
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🙂
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Another wonderful poem –telling two stories so well.
I wonder if the perceived inequalities in marriage are what has made so many young British women choose to not marry………. I was amazed when one neighbour was happy to have her lovers child even after he told her that he was afraid of commitment. But I then realised that she had local family support to hand, owned the house they lived in, and, as they’re not married, the father has reduced legal rights over the child. The power is in her hands, not his.
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Thank you. It probbly does put off a lot of women. The older bride in this story was certainly happier in her widowhood. On the other hand the younger bride was happy in her second marriage. She was the widow in “St Kilda’s Bay lament” which I posted on 16 Jan ’16. Her distress then made me feel quite helpless.
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