2. recently married: late espoused (1), which also has an obvious secondary sense: 'married but now dead.' Both meanings of the word late ('recent[ly]' or 'deceased') are important to the sense of the poem. The word espoused recalls its Latin origin (spondeo, 'to pledge oneself, promise') at the same time that it embodies a biblical allusion to the Latin text of the Song of Solomon: Veni in hortum meum soror mea sponsa, 'Come into my garden, my sister, my spouse' (Canticum Canticorum 5:1).