When, Still

"When, Still"

When he was twenty-three and boyishly handsome,

he asked his young wife, “Will you still love me many years from now,

when my hair is sparse and my beard is gray?”

 

“I will love you then, yes.”

 

When he was thirty-five and his arms

could pick her up and lay her down on their bed,

he asked his pretty wife, “Will you still love me many years from now,

when my arms and back are too weak to carry you?”

 

“I will love you then, yes.”

 

When he was fifty and his legs

could climb the stairs to bring her flowers on Sunday mornings,

he asked his beautiful wife, “Will you still love me many years from now,

when I can no longer plant the roses that grow in the garden?”

 

“I will love you then, yes.”

 

When he was seventy-one and he could take her

to all her favorite places in the world,

he asked his lovely wife, “Will you still love me many years from now,

when the only place I wish to be is home?”

 

“I will love you even then, yes.”

 

When he was eighty-five, and his eyes began to fail,

he asked his faithful wife, “Will you still love me when I can no longer

see how beautiful you are?”

 

“I will love you then, yes. I love you now. I’ve loved you always.

 

When he died, and she buried him in the town where

they had spent their lives, she imagined him asking her,

“Will you still love me when I am gone?”

At his grave she stood on unsteady legs and answered him.

 

“You loved me when I was young and pretty.

You loved me when my bones ached and when dark shadows

formed under my eyes. You loved me as I became forgetful and when I cried

for our children moving away.

 

But of all the days I loved you, I loved you most

when you worried I might not.”

 

In all the thousand days that followed, she tended

the garden, and placed flowers in a vase by her bed;

She traveled to the places he had not yet taken her,

and carried his picture in her purse.

 

In all the thousand nights that followed, she closed her eyes to sleep,

dreamed of him standing in the garden,

looking as he did when he was twenty-three,

until one night he held his arms out to her and smiled.

“Come.”

She went, because it was time.

 

And the garden bloomed.