23 years...

At 11:00 on Saturday 23 April 1988 Judith & I were married at Walkley Baptist Church in Sheffield. It was the church that Judith had grown up in, and had recently been refurbished - in fact we were the frist couple married there following the refurbishment. The weather was OK - not as nice as it is in Sheffield today - and it was great to share the day with friends and family.

Reflecting on the last 23 years, my thoughts turned to the following poem - one of my favourites - by RS Thomas, which for me sums up the love that underpins any successful union of man and woman. It's simply called 'A Marriage.'

We met

     under a shower

of bird-notes.

     Fifty years passed,

love's moment

     in a world in

servitude to time.

     She was young;

I kissed with my eyes

     closed and opened

them on her wrinkles.

     `Come,' said death,

choosing her as his

     partner for

the last dance, and she,

     who in life

had done everything

     with a bird's grace,

opened her bill now

     for the shedding

of one sigh no

     heavier than a feather.