Antique Church Wedding

 

---for John and Nora

 

Never is no part of me; because I am I with
a difference: was, and will always be so; and I speak
for the pureness of things in the name of love’s
            metamorphoses.

—from "LXXVIII," A Hundred Love Sonnets by Pablo Neruda

 

We leave our business faces, fraudulent beauty
Behind to be kids (as at kindergarten graduations),
Armed—unarmed—solely with embarrassment
As we walk the aisle, creatures of a commune
Or nation instead of characters in the news.

Under the wooden ceiling of this antique church,
Despite the unkneeling rebellion of Protestant
Guests, our metallic colors triumph over white
Purity of barongs and kimonas, the silent smile
Of our nakedness, the barongs revealing no guns

The kimonas exposing necks of love and powder,
And we wish the bride and groom happiness, joy
In the Christian way of our town, down to
The last hour of the reception where good food,
Wine, toast us toward the road, to coffee at .

 

 

---December 16, 2001; Calatagan, Batangas to Tagaytay City, Cavite, from a wedding with a golden orange (yellow and red) motif)

 

 

 

 

Copyright © 2004 Vicente-Ignacio Soria de Veyra. All rights reserved. Readers are welcome to view, save, file and print out single copies of this webpage for their personal use. No reproduction, display, performance, multiple copy, transmission, or distribution of the work herein, or any excerpt, adaptation, abridgment or translation of same, may be made without written permission from the author. Any person who does any unauthorized act in relation to this work will be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages.

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