Poem for Our 32nd Anniversary

Power of Two

(for Cindy on our 2⁵ Wedding Anniversary)

Two-to-the-fifth years of both weal and woe.

All of those wedding guests, where did they go?

Thirty-two years ago: ring, kiss, and vow.

Where is the face of that company now?

Two for a honeymoon, four till we moved;

Eight for adoption to double our love.

Sixteen for schooling the children God gave.

Thirty-two closer to rest in the grave.

Doubling and doubling again down the years.

Two, four, eight, sixteen, each new power premiers

Doublings of joy, love, and high adoration;

Growing by binary multiplication.

Thus do our marital blessings accrue,

Exponents, both, for the power of two.

--Paul Erlandson, 2017