If thou dost Marry – I’ll give
Thee this Plague for thy Dowry²
One Husband, One Wife, Whaddya
Got? Two people Sentenced for Life!³
The large Vistas & wide fresh Air which
She dreamed of finding in her Husband’s
Mind – are Replaced by Ante-Rooms and
Winding Passages – which lead Nowhither⁴
My Spouse: a Spring Shut up – a Fountain Sealed⁵
He secretly Wants when the Wedding service ends,
Her to Flatten out Underneath his Feet – like a Mat⁶
When I Marry, there will be No Time left for Love:
New Cares will Smother all the Old Feelings⁷
“I Hate you, I Hate you, I Hate you” – All
Spouses Murmur to each other constantly:
It is the Fundamental Litany of Marriage⁸
If Love were Everything, Few Marriages
Would Survive beyond the Honeymoon⁹
Join New Vows to Old Perjuries –
But dare not call it Loving¹⁰
¹ Ursula K. Le Guin, The Left Hand of Darkness
² William Shakespeare, Hamlet
³ Jalacy Hawkins, I Put a Spell On You
⁴ George Eliot, Middlemarch
⁵ Song of Solomon 4:12 (King James)
⁶ Sylvia Plath, The Bell Jar
⁷ Anton Chekhov tr. Constance Garnett, The Sea-Gull
⁸ Iris Murdoch, The Black Prince
⁹ E.M. Forster, A Passage to India
¹⁰ Elizabeth Barrett Browning, A Woman’s Shortcomings