You, br slim but well-nourished, br not unhandsome, dark, perhaps of Middle East descent, br who's just come in the door at the speed of br a second-ring bellhop br carrying a neat cone of not many flowers br from the florist's down the road br br but unsmiling, focussed, almost fiercely anxious br as if you were a well-trained rifleman br yet fearing that you might have missed one vital point in training - br br what are you bringing from an anxious past br on this, perhaps, lifetime's vital day br for the girl already waiting there whom br alas I cannot see to burden with my assumptions - br br what are you bringing from your past br besides those flowers, to take br into your anxiously-hoped-for future together? br br No, you may not indeed, right now, be worthy of 'her hand'; br - nor may she, indeed, of yours; br that's, perhaps, br br the miracle of marriage.