This September my partner and I marked 21 years of unwedded bliss. I mean, it hasn’t all been blissful, but it’s been more often good than bad, which is more than a lot of people can say. We didn’t start dating as babies, as some have laughingly suggested, but we had just turned 18 when we met, which, looking back, is almost the same.
I couldn’t find any digital copies of pictures from our early days, so here’s the oldest photo I could find on my phone, from way back in 2015.
Just look at those well-rested pre-baby, pre-pandemic faces.
Anyway, this is a Poetry Friday post, so here is an excerpt from a suitably romantic poem to mark the occasion.
From Chamomile Tea – Katherine Mansfield
We might be fifty, we might be five,
So snug, so compact, so wise are we!
Under the kitchen-table leg
My knee is pressing against his knee.
Our shutters are shut, the fire is low,
The tap is dripping peacefully;
The saucepan shadows on the wall
Are black and round and plain to see.
There’s something so lovely and comforting about this image – sitting with your loved one at the kitchen table in the evening, knee against knee, sipping chamomile tea. This is the love the comes with time – warm, comforting, familiar – the kind of love that lets you truly be yourself and just enjoy the moment.
This week Amy Ludwig VanDerwater is hosting Poetry Friday, so do pop over to The Poem Farm and find out what other poetry-loving bloggers have to share! It’s always a lovely way to celebrate the end of the week.
Such a sweet poem! Congrats on the lovely, loving milestone
Jane, it is so wonderful to share love through poetry. Many wishes for continues years of a loving relationship. Sitting together drinking chamomile tea, and “being” in the moment is a warm, cuddly feeling.
When the world seems topsy-turvy, knowing you have that cuddly warm feeling to come home to means everything, doesn’t it?
Happy Wedded So Lovingly Long Weekend Jane!
Many more soothing evening knee-knudging moments, as poet Katharine Masfield warmly limns & you cosily share. Anniversary Wonders to You Two!
Congratulations! It’s a great accomplishment to have a long snd happy relationship. Love the poem you shared and the image of two in the kitchen having tea.
Jane, congratulations this month on 21 years! Here’s to many many more. Sometimes I feel something akin to: “So snug, so compact, so wise are we!”
Jane, congratulations on 21 years! May you have many many more. After 40 years with my partner, I like to say things like, “So snug, so compact, so wise are we!”
Congratulations, Jane! I love the joy that radiates from that picture! Even if it is eight (?) years and a lot of milestones later, it is wonderful that you still share that joy.
Jane, I just tried to post, but it looks like it didn’t take. If memory serves me correctly (and it usually doesn’t), it was something like: Congratulations on 21 years! I love how joy radiates from your photograph. Even though it is eight (?) years and many milestones later, I hope that you still have that same joy (even if it comes with a few wrinkles)!
Well many congrats for 21 joyful years of pressing knees under tables!
First, congratulations on the milestone! Second, the warm imagery of that poem is possible the loveliest thing there is in the world.
Hooray for 21 years of commitment to the struggles and the joys! Best wishes for 21 (or more) more!
Thanks for sharing that sweet poem, and congratulations! Here’s to many more. I agree, “so snug, so compact, so wise are we” is a great line.
Happy Anniversary to you and your sweetheart, Jane. The poem feels so satisfying, as a long and loving relationship can be. I hope the celebration was grand!
Congratulations on 21 years!
Happy 21 years! I hadn’t read the Mansfield before; thanks so much for posting it. I’m off to find more.
Congrats to you both, and thanks for the fun pic and cozy poem too!
Happy anniversary! I wish you many more years of the big joys, the little joys, and pressed knees under tables. Thank you for sharing this poem – I enjoyed finding it and will copy it into my notebook! xo, a.