On a Near Occasion of Death (Related to Me at a Wedding)

On a Near Occasion of Death

(Related to Me at a Wedding)

Nathan Timothy Chan

The man remarked that he would’ve been dead
Were it not for the fall and two broken
Ribs. (He had touched open wire and sealed
His fate with a jolt.) But when the groomsmen
Had entered with bridesmaids smiling, heavy
And sweet with beauty, we stopped and stood, speechless
Before the bride newly dressed in white. And see
How all turned, how she staggered to be blessed,
She with her veil and the groom with his face
Traced with a tear. No shock of it: new life
Must be prefaced by the sundering grace
Of the prior one’s passing, and what I see in your eyes—
Garden, grace, and the stun of beauty—all—
I will arise and receive even with my fall.

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Nathan Timothy Chan
Teacher & Poet

Nathan is currently a junior highschool English teacher living in the Philippines. His work has been published in the Agape Review. 

Photography by Filipp Romanovski