Happy Valentine Day!

For Valentine Day 2012, I will include a poem written 35 years ago. It is a fun piece I penned at the request of the Program Chairman for a Preachers' Sweetheart Banquet. The poem is full of cliches and inside humor for preachers by design but is a favorite of many.
WE

I was I and he was he - A ceremony made us "we.”
When in the sight of ... God and men . . .
We pledged our troth ...And kissed our kin
And set our sails . . . ...Breathlessly
On the matrimony sea.

My handsome prince . .. ...He held my hand.
My every wish . . . ...Was his command
Then one day . . .
I said, "I think we . . .
Should see my friends
. . . More frequently.

He said, so loud . .
It shook the house
That he was man . .
and not a mouse

And furthermore . . .
he said we should
See his friends . . .
he said we would.

He said, we would . . .
most certainly
I said, we won't . . .
We both said "we"

Strange, when we do . . .
Or don't agree
One thing is clear . . .
We both say "we"

Now here's the secret . . .
For love to grow
Through Summer's sun
. . . and Winter's snow

Through diaper rash
. . . And teething ills
From P.T.A. . . .
to college bills

Through three-point circuit
. . . And inner-city
And Pastor Parish
Relations Committee

Through Conference moving
time . . . again
When you’re not one . . .
of the "bishop's men."

Through covered dishes . . .
Well...thick and thin
Love like this . . .
will never end

For when we do . . .
or don't agree . . .
We still find joy . . .
in being '"we".
~by Ruth Baird Shaw