The Summer Wedding

The sun rose like an early morning balloon
to its place
and polished the sky
and as we dressed,
the day put on scents, minutes, car horns and bursts of laughter,
and flashing windows took pictures
of the preparations
while the insects warmed their voices.
The dry grass and some low-hanging branches
frisked our guests on their way to their seats
and weren't we all there?
Didn't we all see it?
The way you dipped your head and raised your eyes,
waded down the shallow water of the aisle,
until at one sharp point,
an unseen star in the blue-drenched day,
we paused,
to listen to the breeze, the piano, the words 'I love you',
the small birds' wedding bells
and found that in that moment,
and then forever after,
we were fully ourselves.

copyright amber proctor 2010

[Illustration by Michael Leunig], downloaded 8th January, 2010, from:
http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2006/05/04/1146335867017.html.