Regency Reproductions
The Marriage
by Mark Strand
The wind comes from opposite poles,
traveling slowly.
She turns in the deep air.
He walks in the clouds.
She readies herself,
shakes out her hair,
makes up her eyes,
smiles.
The sun warms her teeth,
the tip of her tongue moistens them.
He brushes the dust from his suit
and straightens his tie.
He smokes.
Soon they will meet.
The wind carries them closer.
They wave.
Closer, closer.
They embrace.
She is making a bed.
He is pulling off his pants.
They marry
and have a child.
The wind carries them off
in different directions.
The wind is strong, he thinks
as he straightens his tie.
I like this wind, she says
The wind unfolds.
The wind is everything to them.
Mark Strand, “The Marriage” from Selected Poems
