A Manifesto of Love

In sacred years where quiet hearts still flame,

like embers glowing softly, yet the same,

we stand as proof that love, though worn by time,

still breathes in rhythms deeper than its prime.

****

Our voices, once like rivers wild and free,

now flow with calm, enduring constancy;

no longer loud, yet stronger in their grace,

like tides that time and storms could not erase.

****

We held our kindness like a distant star,

through nights that showed us who we truly are;

with trembling hands, with faith we could not see,

we grew our roots in shared uncertainty.

****

We told our stories, stitched with joy and pain,

like summer sun that follows winter rain;

each word a thread we wove through loss and light,

until our separate paths were stitched in sight.

****

Our laughter changed ,no longer wild and bright,

but warm as lamps that outlast longest night;

in quiet rooms, in glances left unsaid,

love spoke in all the simple lives we led.

****

And yes, love bent beneath the weight of years,

like branches bowed with storms and silent tears;

its edges blurred, its certainty undone,

like fading gold at setting of the sun.

****

For kindness asked more strength than we had known,

and courage stood though often left alone;

and grace, once light as air upon the skin,

became the choice we made again within.

****

The roots held fast, though burdened deep in earth,

through trials that measured every wound and worth;

our stories stretched through all we could not mend,

yet still we chose to stay, to not unbend.

****

And here we stand,not flawless, not above,

but shaped and steadied by the weight of love;

for what we bore did not our spirits break-

it built the strength no passing time could take.

****

So this our truth, no longer just a vow:

we are the living proof of love’s deep “how”;

not in its ease, nor in its fleeting art-

but in its staying, heart with weathered heart.

****

And hand in hand, through all that came and went,

through all that healed, and all that left its dent,

we did not fall;we learned, we gave, we grew:

We carried love and love has carried us through.