AT THE COUNTRY WEDDING
They don’t tinkle
Champagne glasses
With their spoons here
And only the old folks
Are sitting down.
A country western group
Has lugged its equipment upstairs,
And later today and into the evening
This young married couple
Will learn the sweet
And rotten joys
From the masters of it —
Dancing fathers and mothers,
Lonesome aunts and yodeling uncles.
But for the moment
Paper plates are heaped with
Homemade ham, biscuits and beans
And all a few people want
Is a kiss,
So tapping on the side
Of a beer bottle with a knife
Quiets the whole grange hall down
Into love.
© Bob Arnold
from Where Rivers Meet
(Mad River Press)
photo © bob arnold
