Epithalamium for a New Age

Who is making the sacrifice?
Who is giving something away…taking something?
Blood letting…the spot they hung out on the purest white sheet
for the world to acknowledge;
old wives secretly glad to admit another member
to their world of relinquishment,
the loss of giving
in an act we call sacred.
Can we only be saved in loss?
Only sanctioned in ritual?

It is not marriage itself
but all that we have changed
to implicate it
into our helpless legalities,
desperate desires,
Cinderella carriages
ballroom princes
majestic mcmansions
and progeny like products
poised on the edge
at the end
of elaborate profitable receptions.

The slow trot begins
up ceremonial aisles,
trailing trains and hidden veils
unleashing surrender
and unrestrained expectations
into the heritage of ownership,
a bondage
fearful of its own calaboose,
dredging us through
the approbation of attendants, guests
who willingly welcome you to their world
of shared disillusions

and the others, still waiting to yoke themselves,
stare with the anticipation of the innocent.

Rather you strip me down
and yoke me stark
pare and parse the lace
the sugar that hides the taste
of me
honesty in your need
to own my love.

Karen Corinne Herceg graduated Columbia University with a B.A. in Literature & Writing. Her first volume of poetry is Inner Sanctions, and her second volume, Out From Calaboose, is due out fall 2016 by Nirala Publications. She publishes poetry, fiction and non-fiction in many literary journals. Her work is read on radio, notably at oursalonradio.com by Jonathan Wolfman. Karen is a member of Poets & Writers, the Academy of American Poets, PEN and is a featured poet on the NY poetry scene.  www.karencorinneherceg.com You can also follow her on Facebook and on Twitter @karen_herceg.