(for Donna and Eric Just’s
41st wedding anniversary)

•••

Cherishing is love with its sleeves rolled up.
—Gregory Boyle

You two make it look easy,
always have, for four decades
plus a year now. And while

the rest of us don’t see all
the behind-the-scenes
goings-on, what we do see

is a great team working
together seemingly seamlessly,
doing what needs doing,

caring deeply, each backing up
the other. We have observed
years of cherishing as you

continue to hold each other
dear, encouraging and
appreciating from

the early days when you
chased after children,
teaching them to walk

and talk and become good
humans, eventually launching
them into lives of their own.

Now look at you—
toting and chasing
grandchildren, again

making it look easy
as you swaddle the next
generation in the kind

of love you bestow on all
of us lucky ones circling in
your sweetly swirling orbit.