History

 

Eventually, in love,

they withdrew into their republic of two;

behind newly created borders,

they declared independent, enacted laws,

developed new customs,

a new language, etc, etc.

My memory is that it was a closed state:

suspicious, restrictive;

the two citizens were equal

until, of course, they were not;

and that was the kernel of the subsequent unrest

and eventual breakdown of order.

In many ways, I  think, their history

is the history of all states.