The four of us who birthed and raised the two of you,
who fed and rocked and clothed you in love,
watched you blossom like sunflowers pushing up
and away from the natal soil, heads filled
with bright purpose and hearts light with song,
your faces turned skyward until that day,
that divinely ordered day,
when you found the sun in the eyes of each other,
we who knew you first knew this was love
that is more than love, this is today and tomorrow
and all the everlasting that we here witness,
exulting in the promise that moves in
and through you like breath and blood,
and we claim for you blessings
of strength and tenderness,
determination and humor,
fortitude, companionship
and boundless joy,
knowing that from your first breath
you were growing toward this day,
when family and friends shout their AMEN
to the love you were made to share
from this sacred day to forevermore.

© Dana Hughes 9.28.24