Then Almitra spoke again and said, And what of Marriage, master? And he answered saying: You were born together, and together you shall be forevermore. You shall be together when the white wings of death scatter your days. Ay, you shall be together even in the silent memory of God. But let there be spaces in your togetherness, And let the winds of the heavens dance between you.
Love one another, but make not a bond of love: Let it rather be a moving sea between the shores of your souls. Fill each other’s cup but drink not from one cup. Give one another of your bread but eat not from the same loaf. Sing and dance together and be joyous, but let each one of your be alone, Even as the strings of the lute are alone though they quiver with the same music.
Give your hearts, but not into each other’s keeping. For only the hand of Life can contain your hearts. And stand together yet not too near together: For the pillars of the temple stand apart, And the oak tree and the cypress grow not in each other’s shadow.
From The Prophet (Knopf, 1923). This poem is in the public domain.
I am not a Humanist Celebrant, this is partly because I spent about a decade preparing to become a Priest in the Church of England and studied Theology and Religion at University, specialising in Contemporary Spirituality in Britain. I tend to be Spiritual but not Religious and that means that if you want spiritual content you shall! Click here to see if we are kindred spirits https://jessmaysspecialdays.com/wp-admin/post.php?post=2623&action=edit
Wedding Reading 2 A Classic Reading for literature lovers
Are you romantics? If so, Christina Rossetti always delivers romantic poems for people like you! She is popular with all kinds of different couples. I am always surprised by the breadth and variety of her reach.
Happy Wedding Ceremony vibes, Fun readings prevent boring guests
I know that love can be loud and jubilant…It can be dancing in the swampy mud and the pouring rain at a festival and shouting “YOU ARE AMAZING” over the band. It’s introducing them to your colleagues at a work event and basking in pride as they make people laugh and make you look lovable just by dint of being loved by them.
It’s laughing until you wheeze.
It’s waking up in a country neither of you have been in before.
It’s skinny-dipping at dawn. It’s walking along the street together on a Saturday night and feeling an entire city is yours.
It’s a big, beautiful, ebullient force of nature.
I also know that love is a pretty quiet thing.
It’s lying on the sofa together drinking coffee, talking about where you’re going to go that morning to drink more coffee. It’s folding down pages of books you think they’d find interesting.
It’s hanging up their laundry when they leave the house having moronically forgotten to take it out of the washing machine.
It’s saying ‘You’re safer here than in a car’ as they hyperventilate on an EasyJet flight to Dublin.
It’s the texts: ‘Hope your day goes well’, ‘How did today go?’, ‘Thinking of you today’ and ‘Picked up loo roll’.
I know that love happens under the splendour of moon and stars and fireworks and sunsets but it also happens when you’re lying on blow-up airbeds in a childhood bedroom, sitting in A&E or in the queue for a passport, or in a traffic jam.
Love is a quiet, reassuring, relaxing, pottering, pedantic, harmonious hum of a thing; something you can easily forget is there, even though its palms are outstretched beneath you in case you fall.
Wedding Readings can be read by members of your family in their own language
A Wedding Reading 5 A poem for culture vultures
This rich poem has a wonderful message and it is lyrical and cultural. Are you a couple who love to spend an afternoon lost in a book shop? Can’t get your head out of your favourite novels? This wedding reading might be for you!
Do you have concerns about the concept of ‘possession’ in marriage?
People continue to be concerned about ‘belonging’ and there are many ways that you can re-interpret the concept. Understandably some couples are concerned to address that in their ceremonies. Although the traditional notion of wives becoming the possession of their husbands still exists, it is no longer normal to think of marriage in this way. This poem is a good example of a poem that refle
Written by James Kavanaugh, an ex-Catholic Priest, who like me became disenchanted by the Church, it does not surprise me to learn that he had grappled with and struggled with a complex relationship with organised religion.
