I Now Pronounce You...

Elizabeth I was a striking woman...She had a head of red hair...and a head for business...stubborn...clever tongued and loved to dance...She also had a passion for men...She had within her a romantic heart and deep desires for intimate relationships with male counterparts...She also wanted a child...It was only through her ladies in waiting...that she lived vicariously...often placing them in the path of the very men...she desired herself...

Early in her...well...career...she came to understand that...in order to do great things...she could not have everything...She confronted the piercing...heartbreaking decision that...her weakness for men...would be a weakness in her life...and struggled with the tug of desire versus duty...

Now...there is no doubt in my mind that she attempted to sort through the royal possibilities...on Chivalry.com...and...probably...quite often believed that connection to be dead...She had her share of spending five hours dressing up...putting on her make-up...only to discover that the one who made her heart flutter...did not show up to the ball...or was married...or had syphilis...In any case...she had her share of disappointments...

But...I wonder what it would have been like...to share the day she fell in love...with her country...I wonder...if she looked around...and saw the green trees...soft rain...the glistening water...and the warmth...and strength of the people of the land...and realized she was already being courted...that she had...somehow...found herself in a the greatest relationship...she would ever experience...

I wonder of...the moment she felt her heart swell...in her breast...and her hand slipped into the hand...of a time and land that was all too eager...to love her back...When did she first feel the embrace...of rich culture...or spoon at night...with the deeply rooted...passionate...and pleading place...And...what did she look like...when it knelt...before her and asked for her hand...and she said yes...

I wonder...if it felt anything like I feel...I wonder if she too...stopped feeling lost...I wonder if she too...felt everything slip away...I wonder if she too felt comfort...the first time she laid in its' arms...I wonder if she too...knew she was home...

Some part of me believes she did...I couldn't possibly be the first to gaze...into a dark sky...and see my future...to see my love...my spouse...the one that I have waited for...my entire life...to feel the moist air...kiss my lips...and the breeze stroke my hair...It seems I have loved you...so long...and that I have spent my life...making my way to your arms...And...as you kneel before me...all I can say is yes...yes...yes...

Elizabeth I...awoke one day...and knew that she had said yes too...She found that she could not live without her land...that it would prove to be her greatest love...So it is for me...and the Mississippi Delta...I give you my hand...offer myself to you...and promise to be faithful...in sickness...and in health...for richer...for poorer...till death do us part...And...as I drift off to sleep...I believe I hear the stars saying...

I now pronounce you...