This is the title of Taylor Swift’s latest album.  I read a revealing article in First Things by Isabella Clarke,  entitled, “On Tortured Poets, Taylor Swift Dreams of Marriage.”  I have never listened to Taylor Swift’s music, but I am very aware of her worldwide influence as a pop singer.  What I find interesting in Clarke’s review is  Swift’s desire for marriage.  Clarke notes, “Despite its increasing fragility and lack of permanence in the modern West, Swift still desires marriage, which she invokes as the ultimate symbol of enduring love and commitment.”  Swift, who is thirty-four, seems to be giving a voice to many women in their thirties.  “The ‘waste’ of youth is inherently more cutting for women than for men.”  

Swift views her new Album as “female rage, the musical.”  Clarke observes, “She increasingly gives voice to her anger at the inability of men to match her desire to pledge lifelong loyalty … In Swift’s world, it isn’t her career that gets in the way of marriage, but the men who made grand declarations only to ‘ghost’ her when things get too real.  These experiences make Swift’s songs relatable to many younger women.  ‘Ghosting,’ the Peter Pan syndrome, and men who want “long term, distance, low commitment, casual” girlfriends are common in today’s modern dating scene.”

In The Prophecy, which the reviewer sees as the most poignant track on the album, Swift turns her eyes upward and begs an unspecified higher power to change her fate:  “A greater woman wouldn’t beg / But I looked to the sky and said / Please I’ve been on my knees / Change the prophecy / Don’t want money / Just someone who wants my company.”  “This album,” suggests Clarke, “reveals that even individuals as powerful and successful as the Taylor Swift can desire the validation of marriage.”  Clarke closes her review by saying, “Swift, on Tortured Poets, makes it very clear who she blames for thwarting her dream, namely the men who ‘didn’t measure up / in any measure of a man.’  Perhaps the culture, who raised these men to take women and talk of marriage so lightly, ought also to bear some of the blame.” 

Wow!  This review seems to beg for a reply from an older man, who has been married to the same woman for 59 years.  To me it is a sad testament to our confused culture that a young woman of the stature of Taylor Swift felt the need to be so open and transparent about her apparent desire for permanency with a man.  I find it very telling that inThe Prophecy Swift seems to be calling out for help from heaven.  What do the words “change the prophecy” imply?  My take is that Swift sees little hope except that God would change what could be her future –  one without a fulfilling marriage.

My testimony: Nearly every morning I say to my wife, “Thank you for staying with me for these 59 years.  You are a long suffering woman.”  What is implied in these words?  1) I take no credit for the blessing of 59 years with Judy.  Marriage is a gift from God.  My wife has responded to me in a very godly manner.  For that I am very thankful.   2) My marriage is the greatest gift given to me by the Lord, other than my salvation.  3)  I am truly thankful for Judy’s companionship, support and genuine love.  I don’t deserve this gift.  4) I only pray that I might continue to reflect the love of God through my marriage. 

In days such as ours, a godly marriage can actually be a prophetic statement to a hurting culture.