WHY MARRIAGE WAS INVENTED

By Judith Viorst, author of: I’m Too young To Be Seventy.

We’re on our way to a party, our speed decreased
Because we can’t remember our hostess’s name.
I say it has three syllables at least.
He says it’s like a boy’s name, but not the same.

I say it rhymes with “skirt’ and starts with “R.”
He say it ends with “a” and not with a “t.”
And just before we finally parked the car,
We reach “Roberta” simultaneously.

In our long years together we have shared
One family and one life of joy and pain,
Not knowing that we’ve slowly prepared
To…”fifty/fifty,” also share one brain.