The speaker imagines his own wedding and tries to say what marriage actually is. He does it through quick, playful redefinitions: it means rejecting rejection, swapping a trampoline for a bed, becoming "equal and opposite forces with new vectors." The tone is witty and a little scientific, but the warmth keeps showing through. Two people who once pulled on their boots back to back now share a day, and even each other's past and future: "I shall acquire your memory / and you my future."
The middle of the poem turns to spring, spices and mixtures, arguing that couples create richer, less predictable results than people on their own. The speaker prefers a "thesaurus of meanings" to a grand, romantic cliché of love. The ending is short and slyly funny. Organs play, as at a wedding, and "bondage comes bearing gifts," a line that admits marriage is a tie while treating it as a happy one. The mood is joyful, clever and affectionate, with a sense of anticipation.