A Maul for Bill and Cindy’s Wedding

Swung from the toes out,

Belly-breath riding on the knuckles,

The ten-pound maul lifts up,

Sails in an arc overhead,

And then lifts you!

It floats, you float,

For an instant of clear far sight—

Eye on the crack in the end-grain

Angle of the oak round

Stood up to wait to be split.

The maul falls—with a sigh—the wood

Claps apart

                and lies twain—

In a wink. As the maul

Splits all, may

You two stay together.