The brief for this poem was very simple. “My husband is so loving to me, and I find it hard to tell him that I love him. Please write a poem for his 60th birthday, to be recited, by you, in front of a room full of people.”

It ended up in the form of a letter.

This is:

For George on his Sixtieth

Dear George,

You know I’m very private and don’t let my feelings show
but now you’re turning sixty, I feel the world should know
how very much I love you and how grateful for the life
we’ve shared for close to forty years as husband and as wife.
I’m grateful, to your Mum and Dad for teaching you to love;
how your early family formed you, with help from God above.

With your sisters and your brothers, you learned to give and take.
Every day you say ‘I love you”, a habit, please don’t break.
I wake up every morning with joy within my soul
it’s you, and all our children, which make me feel so whole.
We have a love, “beyond the grave”, I think that’s what they say.
My love for you will always be ‘forever and a day’.

Lee, Kylie, Nathan, Chantelle too are here with us tonight,
To join with friends and family to honour you this night.
Our grandchildren, our heritage, will take our lineage on
through times to come, and, hopefully, one day, embark upon
exceptional, productive lives, but George, this sure is true,
they wouldn’t have had the start they’ve had without a Dad like you.

So George, my darling, take my hand. Could, everybody here,
please stand up and raise your glass, with your wine or beer,
“To George, my husband, my best friend, the man I’ll always love,
from the deepest depths of the ocean, to the height of the sky above
I’m very grateful that we’ve shared a truly splendid life,
George I love you, thank you dear,

Signed,

Your loving wife.

 

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