Noir nuptials in agrarian societies, she sashays
along a hardwood altruistic aisle tiptoeing
around handprinted liminal lines, parables of
some directionless dichotomy, so she treads on
cursed cracks, jinx crags, conjuring bad luck for
HE who binds
HE who blinds
servitude in steepened “spoken for” sacrilege
tethered to white-laced vows voluble, bow tied
apostolic arrows, hers to claim, hers to aim
Spellbinding in metallic leather matchmade in
a sardonic version of heaven, she marks ashen
foreheads of cross-armed muted congregants
with a xenolithic X
clenching beatific bouquets of wilted Baccara
roses, precious petals litter barren ground
trailing her onyx gown as his last light streams
through stained stain glass windows, day
equals derision, of womanhood oh so becoming
biblical unbecoming is girlhood twine
Liturgical litanies call forth her airy levitation
atop alters fashioned on the premise of
property, possession, passé pledges pairing
master / servant in predestined dour solidarity
subservience until a rubicund reaper do they
part ways
SO
she prays
licking parishioner tears until her thirst sates
allaying fears, casting diamond chains from
wits, writs, and slender wrists counterpoised
to Mesopotamian shadows rapt with sin
Borrowed and burning breviaries, pyres fanned
by winds of change from a willed wingspan
of her free will
willing this farce to conflagrate canon custom
apostatic ash, for richer or poorer, in sickness
and in her health she RAZES pages wrought
from dogmatic dark ages, staking her stage to
wrest…
purity | chastity | obedience | piety | subjugation
beliefs from the wide-eyed patriarchal groom
Now, he may kiss his barbed and bridled bride.
© Edward Swafford 2025
The traditional B.C origins of marriage have never sat well with me; I still view the romanticized concept of engagements, weddings, and honeymoons as a slew of contracts.
Women wearing white dresses (a symbol of purity) walking down an aisle and linking arms with their fathers (once upon a time, this symbolized a transactional offering to further the familial bloodline) sounds absurd to me.
Or maybe I’m just weird?
Not weird. I would find it funny, how people romanticize 'traditions' and the money they spend on weddings and related Insta-celebrations, if it wasn't so tragic. Diamond chains, indeed.
I miss highlighting. This was heart-breakingly brilliant.
I wish I could highlight my favourite lines = all of it. Brilliant, sad, beautiful 🖤☕