1301
Blessed their life whose marriage prospers well,
But if things fall out ill, no happiness
Awaits them, within doors or without,—so beware!
—Unknown.
1302
THE MARRIAGE VOW.
Speak it not lightly; 'tis a holy thing—
A bond, enduring thro' long distant years,
Life will not prove all sunshine; there will come
Dark hours for all; oh! will ye, when the night
Of sorrow gathers thickly round your home,
Love as ye did in days when smooth and bright
Seemed the sure path ye trod, untouched by care,
And deemed the future, like the present, fair?
Age, with its silvery locks, will come stealing on,
And bring the tottering step, the furrow'd cheek,
The eye, from whence each lustrous gleam hath gone;
And the pale lip, with accents low and weak;
Will ye then think upon your youth's gay prime,
And, smiling, bid love triumph over time?
Speak it not lightly; oh! beware! beware!
'Tis no vain promise, no unmeaning word;
Before God's altar, now ye both do swear,
And by the High and Holy One 'tis heard!
Be faithful to each other till life's close;
Seek peace below, and you'll get Heaven's repose.
1303
Let him who weds, wed character, not money.