1998
I do

Call this my rough draft of the vow
I’ll revise and renew and never quite finish.
What I did got me here, but it won't
get me past here. Remember
those strange words I stammered,
stalling for time, when you asked
if after two decades of safety
I might consider the danger that's love?

Our compass is set for a bearing
beyond my Shabby Hotel by the Sea,
out of sight of your Shoals of Reason.
You called me Ambassador from the Edge,
Consul of the Lost and Found.
You knew me well enough to name
my Homeland. The answer is yes.

This moment light gathers around,
I promise you what I do best
yet still with least confidence:
Like my mentor the mole rat, I will
gnaw the perimeter. I am
poised to become the new creature
this marriage calls to. From now on I do
whatever it takes.