Now and Then - A Poem of Love by Hannah Mac Lennan

My only hope for my poem, ‘Now and Then’, would be that maybe, someone, somewhere, would use it in their wedding vows or a wedding speech. I wrote it to make people smile and I hope thats’s what you experience whilst reading it…

I’ll take you for all of it, everything

For all the laughter now,

And all the challenges then,

I’ll take the you that you are and the you that you’ll be,

In sickness and in health, in poverty and in wealth.

Because it’s not just the now, in our youth,

Whilst our bits are still working,

I don’t mean to be uncouth, but

I’ll take it all,

Every future wrinkle on your arse,

Every liver spot, bald patch and all the gas that you’ll pass.

Because loving you now, is promising to love you then,

When our looks have faded, our minds jaded,

When sex isn’t up against the kitchen door, anymore,

And I’m picking my tits up off the floor,

And we’re laughing together thinking, “This isn’t how it was, before”.

Remember how things used to be when we were shiny and new,

Our bodies sprightly and plump, playful and cheeky,

Well, it’s similar now, I guess,

Just more challenging, and creeky.

Remember when romance meant dinner, chocolates, flowers?

Now it’s chatting, whilst you’re in the shower,

And I’m on the loo. Sorry about that…

Remember our trips, the holiday sex,

Drinking all night, nothing complex,

When marriage was easy and love was a given,

And over the years I know that we’ve driven,

Each other round the bend, we’re not perfect,

But I know in the end, it will all have been worth it.

But I want you to know I won’t yearn for those days,

The freedom, the chaos, the post-coital haze,

Because loving you now, means promising to love you then,

From when it first began, on our very first date,

To the close, to our end, our expiration date.

Through the bills and the sickness,

Through the highs and the lows,

Through the arguments, the fights,

I want you to know,

That loving you now, means promising to love you then,

When our days are numbered, bodies crumbled,

When the only thing that stays up, is our blood pressure,

I’ll still treasure, everything

About you.

Every freckle, that’s speckled across your back,

Every wirey hair, nestled in your crack,

Every cuddle on the sofa that we ever shared,

Your beautiful eyes, though now with vision somewhat impaired.

And thank God! Because I’m no oil painting these days,

Wrinkled and dimpled and covered in greys,

If I had a pound for each defined line you could find,

We’d be filthy rich,

Yet you still wine and dine me because somehow,

And yes, I’ll always need reminding,

That you still find me, beautiful.

So now you know, that I’ll take it all,

For all the time we have now and whatever we have then,

Because I know that you’re my person,

And you know, that I’m yours,

So I’ll take it all, everything, ever more,

Now and then.