Poem for a wedding

[Englishbird]

Can anyone give me a good idea for poem to read at a wedding, it's between my best friend and another good friend and is likely to be on a beach, so anything about love, friendship, life.  I'd like something other than the usual wedding poems that you find on all the wedding sites - oh and not too long.  Thanks x

[OBonio]

1 Corinthians 13 we had at our wedding.  Not a poem, but poetic all the same.

Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5It is not rude, it is not selfseeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

[loobylou]

How about a couple of Indian Marriage Blessings?

May the fires of your love
keep you happy and warm;
May the strength of your love
keep you safe from all harm.
May the light of your love
guide your pathways together.
May the joy of your love
keep you happy forever.

Or

Now you will feel no rain,
For each of you will be shelter for the other.
Now you will feel no cold,
For each of you will be warmth to the other.
Now there is no more loneliness.
You are two persons, but there is only one life before you.
Now in this dwelling,
You enter into the days of your life together.
And may your days be good and long upon the earth.

[woofgang]

You probably know this, I think it is most appropriate, especially for a beach wedding. It is from "the Prophet" by Khalil Gibran

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 white wings of death scatter your days.

Aye, 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 you be alone,

Even as the strings of a 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.

[Lillabet]

If the wedding is to be on a beach then I guess that it is a civil ceremony? I'm asking because it might be worth you knowing that all readings for a civil ceremony have to be approved by the registrar. Very often specifically religious texts and even those with a more spiritual dimension won't be allowed. A friend of mine wished to have an extract from'The Prophet' read at her civil wedding last year and this was turned down on these grounds, obviously readings from the Bible may well go the same way depending on the policies of the particular registry.

In the end I read 'The Confirmation' by Edwin Muir which seemed to go down very well - and it isn't too long:

 THE CONFIRMATION 

Yes, yours, my love, is the right human face. 
I in my mind had waited for this long, 
Seeing the false and searching for the true, 
Then found you as a traveller finds a place                   Of welcome suddenly amid the wrong 
Valleys and rocks and twisting roads. But you, 
What shall I call you? A fountain in a waste, 
A well of water in a country dry, 
Or anything that's honest and good, an eye 
That makes the whole world seem bright. Your open heart, 
Simple with giving, gives the primal deed, 
The first good world, the blossom, the blowing seed, 
The hearth, the steadfast land, the wandering sea. 
Not beautiful or rare in every part. 
But like yourself, as they were meant to be.

Hope this helps.....

[motherearth]

Elizabeth Jennings has written a very beautiful poem about love. Not sure what the title is (might even be 'love') - but I'm sure you'll find it with a bit of digging (it's in the Collected Poems, published by Carcanet). It's perfect...

[jills]

Really love that first blessing on your post loobylou, that's just beautiful and simple.  I'm going to keep a note of that one incase I ever need it.

[Englishbird]

all great suggestions thank you all very much, I like the idea of a traditional hindu or budist blessing, that would be a bit different.  It probably will be a civil ceremony but poss in the carribean so don't know if their rules are the same.   Keep em coming, the more bright ideas the better.

[RevShirls]

Hi Englishbird, you already have a great selection here. I had a wee browse through my wedding files where I keep poems, blessings etc.

One of my favourites is a passage from the children's book "The Velveteen Rabbit" by Margery Williams. I have included this and 2 other poems. 

From THE VELVETEEN RABBIT (by Margery Williams)

�What is REAL?� asked the Rabbit one day, when they were lying side by side near the nursery fender, before Nana came to tidy the room. �Does it mean having things that buzz inside you and a stick out handle?� �Real isn�t how you are made,� said the Skin Horse. �It�s a thing that happens to you. When a child (person) loves you for a long, long, time, not just to play with, but REALLY loves you, then you become Real.�

�Does it hurt?� asked the Rabbit. �Sometimes,� said the Skin Horse, for he was always truthful.

�When you are Real you don�t mind being hurt.��Does it happen all at once, like being wound up,� he asked, �or bit by bit?� �It doesn�t happen all at once,� said the Skin Horse.�You become.

It takes along time. That�s why it doesn�t often happen to people who break easily, or have sharp edges, or who have to be carefully kept. Generally, by the time you are Real, most of your hair has been loved off, & your eyes drop out & you get loose in the joints & very shabby. But these things don�t matter at all, because once you are Real you can�t be ugly, except to people who don�t understand.�

[RevShirls]

Here are the poems (I didn't have enough room on my previous posting):

Blessing For A Marriage
(James Dillet Freeman)
May you need one another, but not out of weakness.
May you want one another, but not out of lack.
May you entice one another, but not compel one another.
May you embrace one another, but not out encircle one another.
May you succeed in all-important ways with one another,
and not fail in the little graces.
May you look for things to praise, often say, "I love you!"
and take no notice of small faults.
If you have quarrels that push you apart, may both of you hope to have good
sense enough to take the first step back.
May you have happiness, and may you find it making one another happy.
May you have love, and may you find it loving one another!

True Love
(Author Unknown)
True love is a sacred flame - that burns eternally,
And none can dim its special glow - or change its destiny.
True love speaks in tender tones - and hears with gentle ear,
True love gives with open heart - and true love conquers fear.
True love makes no harsh demands - It neither rules nor binds,
And true love holds with gentle hands - the hearts that it entwines.

[jills]

Rev Shirls, the Velveteen Rabbit extract is wonderful.  It made me quite emotional.....thanks. x

[mightywease]

Hi,

We used Shakespeare's Sonnet No. 116 at our wedding.

I really like toe couplet at the end.

All best wishes, MWx

" Let me not to the marriage of true minds
Admit impediments. Love is not love
Which alters when it alteration finds,
Or bends with the remover to remove:
O no! it is an ever-fixed mark
That looks on tempests and is never shaken;
It is the star to every wandering bark,
Whose worth's unknown, although his height be taken.
Love's not Time's fool, though rosy lips and cheeks
Within his bending sickle's compass come:
Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks,
But bears it out even to the edge of doom.
If this be error and upon me proved,
I never writ, nor no man ever loved."

[se�or guapo]

how bout one person I met on the beach It seemed like they're eating a peach my friends they got ditched we then got hitched and that was the end of the sitch