Knowing When

by Sally Randel

The puffery of dating is deceptive more or less,
looking for a partner is a compatibility test.
Revealing your values and needs is the quest.
Be honest in your motives, for a life at its best.

The responsibility to communicate is neither female nor male,
everyday pettiness makes a relationship fail.
Silent resentment builds foundations that are pale,
a spouse isn't a mind reader in a fairyland tale.

Having spent many years researching the field
knowing when to marry makes the perfect deal.
Infatuation must be conquered for true love to yield
the profits of happiness that can never be repealed.

You know when to marry, know it's your turn
when love is caring for another's concern.
When happiness for someone doesn't need to be learned
and you share and bear a feeling that almost burns.

How can I know you, I don't yet know me.
Don't take for granted the personality you see.
Growing and changing, work together to be
the flexible couple is I, you, and then we.

Sally Randel, ©1995 Reprinted with permission from "Marriage", by Hans Keller & MaryEllen O'Brien, ©1994, published by VisionLink Education Foundation.