Decades of Gold

Dedicated to my dear grandparents, gone now, but never forgotten as long as I draw breath.


DECADES OF GOLD

Fifty years
as man and wife,
struggling and smiling
together;
now
one whole person,
one complete organism,
finally
one golden life.

You two have been
Mom-Mom and Pop
for dozens of toddlers,
and when your grandchildren
and your great grandchildren
were no longerchildren,
still...
it's Mom and Pop
that you remained.

Your extended family
of Carpenters
and almost-Carpenters
is a thing eternal,
because that man took this woman
for his bride
half a century ago.

Absolute bliss
can be no one's constant companion,
but warmth, honesty, integrity,
and a loving interdependence
has been constant
for you,
and still is.
You two
have never let go
of your dreams,
sprinting through fifty yearsl
ike it was a warm-up.

You have fired up
the family furnace with
romance, politics, art, logic,
pragmatism, hope, and courage.
You have instilled
in each individual of us
the iron-clad determination
to live out each day
fully.

You have shared with us
a blueprint for fidelity,
and a love that lasts
beyond the trials of life,
perhaps beyond life
itself.

For those of us lucky
enough to have known you
all of our lives,
realizethat you two
are our inspiration.

You have preached the revolution
of Love;
that all men are brothers,
that no man need be a slave
in a world made without masters.
In a society harsh with Take,
you are the Love-givers,
and the Love survivors.

Several times
every day,
I think about both of you;
and for that precious moment
I thank you
again,
for my being alive,
for my being a pale reflection
of your ardor;
and I thank you
for the truth
of your legacy.

As long as I have breath,
the shining example
of your lives
illuminates my path,
and it shall never dim.


Butch Buttkus 1983