Forty Years

 

Forty years ago, this date,

This woman was married to this man,

How she managed this herculean task

Only she would understand.

 

On the 1^st August 1981

We walked out of White Park Church,

Married by the late George C. West

And today it still works.

 

I give to Almighty God the praise

For the patience he gave my wife

To harness this bundle of mischief

And made him hers for life.

 

She has been a tower of strength

All through these forty years

And when pain assaulted her body

Her resilience was in her tears.

 

Second to choosing Christ

She was the best of my other choices

Even though, As I recollect,

Few were the competing voices.

 

Often, I have heard it said

It’s difficult to understand a woman,

Well another forty years with her

Should help to solve that problem.

 

As for me, it is forever I do

For, why would I want to change?

To give up this precious gift I have,

I would have to be deranged.

 

 

Why she is my children’s mother,

A devoted and submissive wife,

And she has never left my side

Amidst pain or challenge or strife.

 

At home she lets me be the head,

Away, I pretend to be the boss

And all she does is to encourage me,

Never becoming cross.

 

Some have often warned me

That she will knock me on my head

But not this precious lady,

She would just laugh instead.

 

I am an extremely fortunate man

To have wedded this earthly pearl

And though sometimes I do not show it,

Lynette is truly my world.

 

 

 

Ten years after I started to teach

I took this woman to wife

And ten years into my retirement,

She is still my darling wife.

 

So, you see the significance of forty

As an educator and a married man,

Forty years educating and forty years married:

Sounds just like a Divine plan!

 

Today, I celebrate with one and all

And in a toast, I raise my glass,

You must admit, if you’ve read this poem,

My wife has got to be class.

 

Thanks to God

Thanks to family

Thanks to friends

And to all who have supported us through the years.

 

Stewart Russell © August 1, 2021