Wedding Sonnet

Let innocence be chiefly in our mind
When ceremony joins two lovers’ hands;
Though life is full of shifting, sinking sands
And lovesick sorrow all that some can find.
They come to pledge, to swear, but not to bind.
It’s truth they seek in golden lustrous strands
To weave into an oath that life withstands.
But earnest vows are easily maligned.
A few will gently roll a jaundiced eye,
With cynicism earned or rented cheap,
And say that this is all an empty show.
It’s fear that makes the pessimist deny
That cautionless affection courses deep
And grants a joy that cynics will not know.