It has been raining for as many hours as we have been married –
I, still pink with the bliss of passion
consummated,
place my finger on your chin
and you stir, a sign of life.
I want to lay here and read my vows
to your gently heaving chest –
you seemed overwhelmed the first time
I said I was giving you my life.
at midnight,
in a noisy, crowded room,
I made a promise.
You smiled and said only that you would be here,
that I could count –
slow as I wish –
to 365 and you would still be standing next to me.
It was no dream.
You are here.
I accept fully that your arrival is in itself a promise,
a vow carved on this bed
as we await, curtains drawn,
the rise of the new sun
to embrace our newlywed joy.
Nkateko Masinga is a poet and a 2019 Fellow of the Ebedi International Writers Residency.