SURELY

So many years of marriage should be marked,

they say, by china – the product, of course,

not the place. So a sturdy mug for us

from the Five Towns – or a translucent

teapot from Nanking? China, it is:

willows by a stream, a template of an

eastern Eden and, on the bridge, two –

or three? I know a better token.

Two pear trees in our daughter’s garden were

remnants of an orchard before the town grew.

A jasmine, a grapevine and the trees

had grown together in sure companionship.

With fruit (albeit a tad vintage!), leaves

for modesty, dappled shade in sharp sun,

rich perfume on a summer night, you –

a surely unbreakable paradise.