Love. Desire. Marriage

By Justine C. Tajonera

The bare bones of a Sunday
morning kiss remains
after the furtive novelty
of desire has had
its tide.
You ask me why
the nature of love
has changed
after the marriage vows
have been said.
I have no easy answer.

There are no perfumed
mysteries after you have
wrestled with the gristle
and sinew of
childbirth together.
The howling, organic
peak of labor
is a far cry from
the short ecstasies of sex,
even the marital
kind.

But love is not fleeting.
That is something
we can report
from the
front lines.

It is that unbreakable
joint that holds us
together, not
at the hip,
but in our guts
and through the
miraculous flesh
of our
children.

(Nov. 18, 2009)

Image from: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:William-Adolphe_Bouguereau_%281825-1905%29_-_The_Proposal_%281872%29.jpg