Their romance was a one-act play,
their marriage,
a Shakespearean tragedy in 5 acts.
The honeymoon was over before it began,
but the potential of the life she carried
held it all together till the final scene.

He married her for her beauty,
she married him for money,
but when he became handsome,
& she became rich,
they were happier with themselves.

They loved one another
to the exclusion of all others;
their compassion for the guilty
diminished what the innocent
could have used.

He was unique & handsomely-made–
without blemish;
she was scarlet with sin,
with skin as white as snow,
yet it was her life that made the greater sacrifice.

She had been raised to put her marriage first,
& in so doing,
she had put herself second.
Her children could never imagine a Father’s love,
having never seen it in their own.