Was It A Sin? Poem by Emil Aarestrup

Was it a sin no one was with us?
Our wedding such a lone affair?
A stork the only tree-top witness
Who from his nest returned our stare?

A stork with stockings red as roses
Whose gossip-beak tuts its refrain -?
No gardener’s boy with bridal posies,
And but one snail with silky train?

No starch-ruffed priest the words to mutter,
No chambermaid with pure jade comb,
No wedding gift forthcoming but the
Lakelet’s small wisps of silver foam?

And that the bride’s consent and, higher,
My lofty vow of plighted troth
Alone were heard and called for by the
Almighty God of Love and Youth?

But - you recall? - the forest proffered
A fairy dell well out of sight;
Glow-worms that clung to bushes offered
What was our only source of light.

Oh, should I once forget that glorious
Moment - may me God chastise!
A thousand crickets chirped in chorus,
While shooting stars lit up the skies.