Wedding Ghazal

Marriage is the one Walden not fixed on any map.
City, lake, wilderness, star: not caught on any map.

Walled garden, golden ring, a knot—ancient images.
For you I choose hinge—a bright pivot beyond any map.

Every marriage has its gazelle, its panther. Take turns
being delicate, fierce. Burn to carbon any map.

Strength, imagination, tenderness, and luck: the true
cardinal points don’t show up on any phone, any map.

Marrying each other now you marry everything:
mastodon, lemon, electron, plankton, any map.

Ritual one day, originality the next.
Avoid demons, relationship jargon, any map.

Small satisfactions riddled with huge expectations
and vice versa. Better not to caption any map.

Many loved ones are watching from the future, the past.
Their tearful approval will emblazon any map.

The art of love, the love of art: when originals
align, their colophon will out-crayon any map.

You will need to laugh. For laughter, getting lost is best.
Abandon precedent, pride; abandon any map.

Kaleidoscope—unending play from a few loose shards.
For your islands, no soothsayer has drawn any map.

We praise your separate selves, your union, your setting-forth.
Trust love and the world’s fullness to flatten any map.

Who is Erica to offer irrational hope?
Her own Ardens and Zions aren’t found on any map.