Will you continue in the apostles' teaching and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in the prayers?

Fidelity

Asked to be constant
I hesitate as wisdom dictates
because this promise could impact
all remaining details in my life.
Commonly, in weddings,
at the moment of the vow,
someone faints, and I know why.
Asked now for a commitment
to that ancient marriage
I could not honestly assent
except that I love beyond reason
the one for whom I make this pledge.
His personal friends,
scatterbrained and flighty,
resolved to mightily wield
imagination to support
the unreasonable assertion
that an executed criminal
comes closer than anyone
before or since
to the spirit of God.
When I see what he did
and what he does,
I have no more choice than they did.
I will. I do.

[The Covenant Journal, Number 26, September 2007 All poetry in this issue is by Robert Cogswell.]