Marriage is all contradiction. On blissful days, you choose to live for the moment, as in romantic fiction; on miserable ones, believe in what lies beyond the blue horizon. In short, you can't be realistic unless you dare to throw out reason... and marriage, after all, is a joint venture, not a game in which adversaries score a point; both of you stand to lose the match . That's Mary Jo Salter. The poem is "A Benediction." It's really a poem about death (I think). You and your partner can live in the present, or you can dwell on fears about deterioration and loss (things that are inevitable, in life: "what lies beyond the blue horizon"). A little realism is a good idea, but it can bog you down. A little fancifulness is a good idea, but it can leave you blind-sided. The final lines could help so many people, if posted in so many living rooms: "Marriage, after all, is a joint venture, not a game in which adversaries score a point; both of you ...