The Bride
If Tennyson had crushed that flower in
The crannied wall, would he have known what God
And man are? Would that poet know what sin
And Christ’s theodicy are? Overawed
Is what this rhymester wanted most to be.
He didn’t really care about what mere
Thought speaks. He cared about salt grief’s dead sea.
The poet sought relief from mourning’s sphere.
He knew, yes, knew the meaning of love’s loss.
He didn’t need a petal, living, dead
Or squashed, or need a God up on a cross.
He knew his truest love with sorrow wed.
The wedding was a young man’s death. This life
Left poet, passion, God with black dressed wife.
~ Phillip Whidden