Theme of marriage by marinee moore

The entire poem is Moore's attempt to work through what the problems of marriage are. She wonders why two people would link themselves together in such a public fashion if it is impossible to put aside self-love and truly meet another's needs. Love and passion are fundamentally mysterious feelings, and their presence does not necessarily guarantee that a union will be successful. Furthermore, the rules that accompany marriage seem a burden, and women are doomed to have a more difficult time of it given their subordinate social position. Married people become apathetic, weary, indifferent; they rarely want to or understand how to sacrifice. They approach marriage with erroneous assumptions and do not know that it is impossible to have both liberty and union.