Marriage

To know a woman, you can only wait,
in hope that time will bring some revelation;
and may your patience and your will be great.

The smallest word might move her to a state
of blank disgust, or wide-eyed indignation.
To know a woman, one can only wait

until those sudden, sullen moods abate.
In the meantime, you'll get an education,
if both your patience and your will be great.

Think hard, lips sealed; and join in no debate
you cannot win. In your determination
to know a woman, you can only wait,

for a quick tongue will trip, and seal your fate,
and even a head shake is a provocation;
but if your patience and your will be great

you will not argue, or recriminate,
and find it's mostly sheer humiliation
to know a woman. You must learn to wait,
and may your patience and your will be great.



December 30, 2003