THE SECRET OF DURABLE MARRIAGE
By Rudy A. Arizala
09 October 2006
On this 42nd anniversary of our Wedding Day (09 October 2006) at New York City´s St. Patrick Cathedral almost at the end of autumn, may I share with you my reflections on such memorable event in my life when I bade adieu to my bachelorhood days and entered the portals of a married life.
FORTY-SECOND WEDDING ANNIVERSARY
By Rudy A. Arizala
Now we celebrate again
When each other we proclaimed
Our love-bond shall remain
In health, sickness or in pain.
Of that bond born three children
Grew up with their respective dreams
We nurtured, encouraged them
To go on life, shine or rain.
And they all fulfilled their dreams
For their dreams also our dreams
To be useful citizens
As the Good Lord destined.
As we celebrate this year
Forty-second wedding rites
We thank Lord of universe
For all His blessings and care.
E n d
What is the secret of such long togetherness? Such marriage lasted for 42 years today and God willing, it will last for many more years to come having in mind what a noted poet and writer said when Almitra asked him to speak of Marriage before his departure for home from the island. Kahlil Gibran in his literary master piece "The Prophet" said of Marriage in the following immortal words:
OF MARRIAGE
By Kahlil Gibran in his book “The Prophet”
You were born together, and together you shall be for evermore.
You shall be together when the white wings of death scatter your days.
Aye, you shall be together even in the silent memory of God.
But let there be spaces in your togetherness.
And let the winds of the heavens dance between you.
Love one another, but make not a bond of love:
Let it rather be a moving sea between the shores of your souls.
Fill each other´s cup but drink not from one cup.
Give one another of your bread but eat not from the same loaf.
Sing and dance together and be joyous, but let each other one of you be alone,
Even as the strings of a lute are alone though they quiver with the same music.
Give your hearts, but not into each other´s keeping.
For only the hand of Life can contain your hearts.
And stand together yet not too near together:
For the pillars of the temple stand apart,
And the oak tree and the cypress grow not in each other´s shadow.
E n d
Indeed, in your togetherness, love, grow, share each other´s joy but at the same time let there be also space for aloneness from each other. In the words of Kahlil Gibran: “Let there be spaces in your togetherness. . . .Stand together, yet not too near each other: / For the pillars of the temple stand apart, / And the oak tree and the cypress grow not in each other´s shadow.”