Twenty-four Ten

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This is a poem I was asked to write for a friend's wedding, to be read during the ceremony. I was somewhat paralysed with fear for a few months after they asked me, with no inspiration coming. Normally I resort to stupid humour in my poems to avoid confronting grown-up subjects or revealing too much of myself but it felt like the wrong setting for talking animals. In the end, luckily, what you see below arrived in my brain unannounced, suddenly, all at once - I wrote nearly the whole thing in my head in a swimming pool in a fancy hotel my wife and I were staying at to celebrate our 20th wedding anniversary which I guess is appropriate. I scribbled it down quickly before going for dinner and then chopped it around a bit the next day.  Given with much love to Nate and Katie, 24/10/26.

Twenty-four Ten

Love is when to give a hug,

And when to leave alone.

Love is, though you’re really busy,

Still picking up the phone.

Love is you not being funny,

But still making me laugh.

Love is you not minding my,

Four hours in the bath.

Love is when you tolerate,

Me acting like a dick.

Love is when I bring you toast,

When you are feeling sick.

Love’s your reassuring smile,

From ‘cross the busy room.

Love’s the stupid joke I make,

To puncture through your gloom.

Love’s not just in evening heat,

But also cool of dawn.

Love’s not found on Friday night,

As much as Sunday morn.

Love’s the tingle in my soul,

Whene’er I feel your touch.

Love is symbiotic nurture,

A ladder not a crutch.

Love’s the river, not the whirlpool.

The calmness, not the agitation,

Love is travel, intertwining,

The journey, not the destination.

Love is family, love is friends,

We all love you greatly.

Love weaves love, a blanket round you,

Love is Nate and Katie.

By Pete Thomas