He Thought He Knew

He thought he knew. He didn’t. Ten years passed.
They weathered tempestuous seas those years,
But each strike only strengthened them. The tears
Dripped liquid, hardened, formed a solid cast,
An anchor sure to hold their hearts, outlast
The wildest raging of the sea, though fears
Still mock. The fog that concealed truth now clears.
These ten years in, he tasted love at last.
He married her at twenty-one. He thought
He knew the ancient rules. He had appealed
To all the classic poets’ lines and sought
Advice from wiser men, but time revealed
He’d gained mere theories from the books he’d bought.
He learned to love on life’s cruel battlefield.