Card —anniversary poem

Inside: Courtship or Marriage? Marriage is an ordered garden, Courtship, a sweet tangled wood; Marriage is the sober Summer, Courtship, Spring, in wayward mood; Marriage is a deep, still river, Courtship, a bright laughing stream; Marriage is a dear possesssion, Courtship, a perplexing dream: Which of these, my wife, shall be Crowned as best by thee and me? Marriage is a blue day's beauty, Courtship, the capricious morn; Marriage is the sweet Rose gathered, Courtship, but still fenced with thorn; Marriage is the pearl in setting, Courtship is the dangerous dive; Marriage the full comb of honey, Courtship, the new-buzzing hive: —Which of these, dear wife, shall be First preferred by thee and me? O, the tangled wood was lovely, When we found it, in our play, Parting curiously the branches White with masses of the May, Eagerly the paths exploring Leading to we knew not where, Save that million flowers edged them, And that bird-songs lit the air, Thrushes' joy-notes, Philomela's Still more exquisite despair. How we wandered!—Now our wild wood Has become a garden plot, Something missed of that strange sweetness, In the method of our lot. —Ordered walks, and formal borders For the wood-paths strange and wild, Rose superb, and stately lily, Where the careless wood flowers smiled, —Summer, grave and sober matron, For young Spring, the eager child; Which, O which perferred shall be, Darling wife, by me and thee? Nay, the garden has its glory, Stately flower and fruit mature; And the wild wood had its dearness, Strange delights and wonders pure; And the summer has fulfilment, If the spring has promise-store; And the river is the deeper, If the young brook laugheth more; And the real joy abideth, When the teasing dreams are o'er. And the broad blue sky has glories, If the morn was wildly fair; And the gathered rose is safer, If the buds more piquant were; And the pearl is raze and precious, If the dive was full of glee; And we would not change our honey, For the flower-quest of the bee; —Sweet is Courtship; sweet is Marriage; Crown them, darling, equally!! —J.R. Vernon, 1891