Wedding Readings

Blessing for a Marriage

2012-01-15T14:01:00.000-08:00

May your marriage bring you all the exquisite excitements a marriage should bring,
and may life grant you also patience, tolerance, and understanding.

May you always need one another-
not so much to fill your emptiness as to help you to know your fullness.
A mountain needs a valley to be complete;
the valley does not make the mountains less, but more;
and the valley is more a valley because it has a mountain towering over it.
So let it be with you and you.

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 on another.
May you embrace one another, but not out encircle one another.
May you succeed in all important ways with one another, and not fall 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 enter into the mystery which is the awareness of one another’s presence –
no more physical than spiritual, warm and near when you are side by side,
and war and near when you are in separate rooms or even distance cities.
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.

--James Dillet Freeman

What we Wish for You

2011-11-18T17:54:00.000-08:00

I cannot say what we would wish for you and your marriage.
All of your dreams in life are your own and shall be fluid,
ebbing and flowing from shore to shore
as you discover the nature of each success and disappointment.
We cannot wish for you to know no sorrows in the years ahead,
for to never know sorrow would mean
that you would never be blessed with anything worthwhile.
We cannot wish for you a life without struggles,
for that would mean a life without achievement.
We cannot wish for you a life without struggles,
for that would mean a life without achievement.
Yet we can wish that all the roads you travel
and the feelings experienced along the way
shall make your marriage stronger through the seasons.
That your home and your togetherness
shall forever remain a place of sanctuary and renewal
That you share more joys than sorrows
And that your relationship continues to grow and endure and inspire
Today we wish nothing more or less
than all that you hope and dream for yourselves.
And that it last for a lifetime.

Photograph by Jennifer Sosa

Buddhist Marriage Homily

2011-10-08T03:57:00.000-07:00

To say the words
“Love and Compassion” is easy.
But to accept that Love
And Compassion are built
Upon patience and perseverance
It not easy.
Your marriage will be firm
And everlasting if you this.

--Buddhist Marriage Homily

A Passage from Madeline L'Engle

2011-10-03T13:49:00.000-07:00

But ultimately, there comes a moment when a decision must be made. Ultimately two people who love each other must ask themselves how much they hope for as their love grows and deepens, and how much risk they are willing to take….It is indeed a fearful gamble….Because it is the nature of love to create, a marriage itself is something which has to be created, so that, together you become a new creature. To marry is the biggest risk in human relations that a person can take…If we commit ourselves to one person for life this is not, as many people think, a rejection of freedom; rather it demands the courage to move into all the risks of freedom, and the risk of love which is permanent; into that love which is not possession, but participation…It takes a lifetime to learn another person…When love is not possession, but participation, then it is part of that co-creation which is our human calling, and which implies such risks that it is often rejected.

Cherokee Wedding Prayer

2011-05-17T09:42:00.000-07:00

CHEROKEE PRAYER

God in Heaven above
please protect the ones we love.
We honor all you created as we pledge
our hearts and lives together.

We honor Mother Earth
and ask for our marriage to be abundant
and grow stronger through the seasons;

We honor Fire
and ask that our union
be warm and glowing
with love in our hearts;

We honor Wind
and ask that we sail through life
safe and calm as in our father’s arms;

We honor Water
to clean and soothe our relationship
that it may never thirst for love;

With all the forces of the universe you created,
we pray for harmony and true happiness
as we forever grow young together.

Amen.

An Epithalamion for Lawyers

2011-04-04T14:48:00.000-07:00

Your learn’d identities untie

And in the nuptial bed (love’s altar) lie

A pleasing sacrifice; now dispossess

Yourselves of chains and robes which were put on

To adorn the day, not you; for you, alone,

Like virtue and truth, are best in nakedness;

This bed is only to the single state

A grave, but to a better one, a cradle;

Till now you were but able

To be what now you are; so that you might

No longer say, I may be, but, I am,

Tonight put on perfection and a lover’s name.

--John Donne

A Wedding Song on St. Valentine’s Day

2011-04-04T14:45:00.000-07:00

Hail, Bishop Valentine, whose day this is,

All the air is thy diocese,

And all the chirping choristers

And other birds are thy parishioners;

Thou marriest every year

The lyric lark, and the grave whispering dove,

The sparrow that neglects his life for love,

The household bird with the red stomacher,

Thou mak’st the blackbird speed as soon

As doth the goldfinch, or the halcyon;

The husband cock looks out, and straight is sped,

And meets his wife, who brings her feather-bed.

This day more cheerfully than ever shine,

This day, which might enflame thyself, old Valentine.

Till now, thou warm’dst with multiplying loves

Two larks, two sparrows, or two doves;

All that is nothing unto this,

For thou this day couplest two Phoenixes;

Thou mak’st a taper see

What the sun never saw, and what the Ark

(Which was of fowls and beasts the cage and park)

Did not contain, one bed contains, through thee,

Two Phoenixes, whose joined breasts

Are unto one another mutual nests,

Where motion kindles such fires as shall give

Young Phoenixes, and yet the old shall live.

Whose love and courage never shall decline,

But make the whole year through, thy day, O Valentine.

--John Donne

From “The Anniversary”

2011-04-04T14:44:00.000-07:00

All Kings, and all their favorites,

All glory of honors, beauties, wits,

The sun itself, which makes times, as they pass,

Is elder by a year now than it was

When thou and I first one another saw:

All other things to their destruction draw,

Only our love hath no decay;

This no tomorrow hath, nor yesterday,

Running it never runs from us away,

But truly keeps its first, last, everlasting day.

--John Donne

The Good-Morrow

2011-04-04T14:43:00.000-07:00

I wonder, by my troth, what thou and i

Did, till we loved? Were we not weaned till then?

But sucked on country pleasures, childishly?

Or snored we in the seven sleepers’ den?

‘Twas so; but this, all pleasures fancies be.

If ever any beauty I did see,

Which I desired, and got, ‘twas but a dream of thee.

And now good morrow to our waking souls,

Which watch not one another out of fear;

For love all love of other sights controls

And makes on little room an everywhere.

Let sea-discoverers to new worlds have gone,

Let maps to others worlds on worlds have shown,

Let us possess one world, each hath one, and is one.

My face in thine eye, thine in mine appears,

And true plain hearts do in the faces rest;

Where can we find two better hemispheres,

Without sharp North, without declining West.

Whatever dies was not mixed equally.

If our two loves be one, or thou and I

Love so alike that none do slacken, none can die.

--John Donne

Alter! When The Hills Do

2011-04-04T14:41:00.001-07:00

Alter! When the Hills do—

Falter! When the Sun

Question if His Glory

Be the Perfect One—

Surfeit! When the Daffodil

Doth of the Dew—

Even as Herself—Sir—

I will—of You—

--Emily Dickinson

I Gave Myself To Him

2011-04-04T14:40:00.000-07:00

I gave myself to Him—

And took Himself, for Pay,

The solemn contract of a Life

Was ratified, this way—

The Wealth might disappoint—

Myself a poorer prove

Than this great Purchaser suspect,

The Daily Own—of Love

Depreciate the Vision—

But till the Merchant buy—

Still Fable—in the Isles of Spice—

The subtle Cargoes—lie—

At least—‘tis Mutual—Risk—

Some—found it—Mutual Gain—

Sweet Debt of Life—Each Night to owe—

Insolvent—every Noon—

--Emily Dickinson

It Was A Quiet Way

2011-04-04T14:38:00.000-07:00

It was a quiet way—

He asked if I was his—

I made no answer of the Tongue

But answer of the Eyes—

And then He bore me on

Before this mortal noise

With swiftness, as of Chariots

And distance, as of Wheels.

This World did drop away

As Acres from the feet

Of one that leaneth from Balloon

Upon an Ether stree.

The Gult behind was not,

The Continents were new—

Eternity it was before

Eternity was due.

No Seasons were to us—

It was not Night nor Morn—

But Sunrise stopped upon the place

And fastened it in Dawn.

--Emily Dickinson

from “The Divine Comedy”

2011-04-04T14:36:00.000-07:00

“The love of God, unutterable and perfect,

flows into a pure soul the way that light

rushes into a transparent object.

The more love that it finds, the more it gives

itself; so that, as we grow clear and open,

the more complete the joy of loving is.

And the more souls who resonate together,

the greater the intensity of their love,

for, mirror-like, each soul reflects the others.”

--Dante

Love Is More Thicker Than Forget

2011-04-04T14:35:00.000-07:00

love is more thicker than forget

more thinner than recall

more seldom than a wave is wet

more frequent than to fail

it is most mad and moonly

and less it shall unbe

than all the sea which only

is deeper than the sea

love is less always than to win

less never than alive

less bigger than the least begin

less littler than forgive

it is most sane and sunly

and more it cannot die

than all the sky which only

is higher than the sky

--E. E. Cummings

If Everything Happens That Can’t Be Done

2011-04-04T14:33:00.000-07:00

if everything happens that can’t be done

(and anything’s righter

than books

could plan)

the stupidest teacher will almost guess

(with a run

skip

around we go yes)

there’s nothing as something as one

one hasn’t a why or because or although

(and buds know better

than books

don’t grow)

one’s anything old being everything new

(with a what

which

around we come who)

one’s everyanything so

so world is a leaf so tree is a bough

(and birds sing sweeter

than books

tell how)

so here is away and so your is a my

(with a down

around again fly)

forever was never till now

now I love you and you love me

(and books are shuter

than books

can be)

and deep in the high that does nothing but fall

(with a shout

each

around we go all)

there’s somebody calling who’s we

we’re anything brighter than even the sun

(we’re everything greater

than books

might mean)

we’re everythinganything more than believe

(with a spin

leap

alive we’re alive)

we’re wonderful one times one

--E. E. Cummings

Roman Epithalamion

2011-04-04T14:31:00.000-07:00

Dweller on Helicon, son

of the muse of the stars’ slow

turning through the night sky, god

who hastens the tender bride

to her bridegroom, we sing your name:

O Hymen Hymenaee, Hymenaee.

Cover your head with a garland

of fragrant red marjoram flowers,

put on your flame-colored mantle,

come happily, wearing yellow

slippers on your snowy feet!

Walking on this festive morning,

chanting the poems of marriage

in a sweetly tremulant voice,

pound the earth under your feet,

whirl the pine torch in your hand,

for today _______ marries

_______, who is a lovely

as Venus was at Idalia

when Paris chose her among the goddesses;

they go with good auspices,

as dear as the Asian myrtle is

to the nymphs of the forest

who love their flowery playthings,

brilliant with sprigs of white blossoms,

and feed them on dewdrops.

Come to us quickly, marriage-god.

Set about leaving your shelter,

your cave on the mountain cooled

by clear water from the stream

of the nymph Aganippe.

Call to their home these new lovers,

eager to be with each other,

fasten their hearts with affection

as trailing ivy will fasten close

around the trunk of an oak.

And you too, young men and women,

for whom a day just like this one

approaches, cry out in measure,

sing out the god’s name: O Hymen

Hymenaee, Hymenaee,

so he will come all the faster,

summoned by your songs

to his duties, this herald

of the Venus of days, this god who

seals passionate desire.

What god more lovingly called on

by those whose love is requited?

Whom shall men worship more in all

heaven? O Hymen Hymenaee,

Hymen Hymenaee.

Worried fathers invoke you;

for your sake, young girls loosen

the binding that gather their dresses;

the nervous young bridegrooms

jump at the sound of your music!

You give the budding girl over

to the hands of her husband,

you give the boy to his wife,

and pluck them both from their mother’s

bosoms. O Hymen Hymenaee,

Hymen Hymenaee.

Without you Venus is for hours,

she is not the one of long years,

of excellent accomplishment, yet

when you are willing, she abides.

What god compares to this one?

No house may have heirs without you

nor aged parents have children

to lean on; yet they may have them

and more, when you are willing.

What god compares to this one?

Land that gave you no worship

would not have young to tend it, to honor

the earth against her despoilers.

When you are willing, we have them.

What god compares to this one?

Roman tradition calls now for a few

bawdy verses. We’re not implying

that in the case of you two

it would be in any way appropriate.

O Hymen Hymenaee.

But it sometimes happens that the young

have their flings, catastrophic passions,

those relationships that practically kill you,

that you tell yourself you learned from.

O Hymen Hymenaee.

In old Rome a couple of pretty kids

used to toss walnuts to the crowd

for the bride and the bridegroom.

I think the nuts must have symbolized

old boyfriends and girlfriends.

We’re not saying you two went cruising,

picked people up on vacation, but

throw out some walnuts anyways;

that frantic life, even if it was

kind of fun, is done with.

O Hymen Hymenaee.

But now we’re finished delaying;

here you are at the alter.

May Venus assist you, since it’s plain

that you wish for,

this love with its freshness.

Anyone who wants to count the thousands

of joy before you, the days of delight,

may tally the glittering stars

or go counting sands in the desert.

O Hymen Hymenaee.

Play as you’re pleased to. Be children

together and grownups. And show us

some children eventually, as alive

as you two are on this festive day

and at least as good-looking.

So, god of marriage, we’ve brought them

this far, and the rest of the song

is their singing. Be good to each other,

you two, and get to work on the singing,

on the labor of loving.

O Hymen, Hymanaee, Hymenaee

--Catullus

O, My luve’s Like A Red, Red Rose

2011-04-04T14:28:00.000-07:00

O, my luve’s like a red, red rose

That’s newly sprung in June;

O, my luve’s like the melodie

That’s sweetly played in tune.

As fair thou art, my bonnie lass,

So deep in luve am I;

And I will luve thee still, my dear,

Till a’ the seas gang dry.

Till a’ the seas gang dry, my dear,

And the rocks melt wi’ the sun;

I will luve thee still, my dear,

While the sands o’ life shall run.

--Robert Burns

Unlimited Friendliness

2011-04-04T14:26:00.000-07:00

This is what should be done by the man and woman who are wise, who seek the good, and who know the meaning of the place of peace.

Let them be fervent, upright, and sincere, without conceit of self, easily contented and joyous, free of cares; let them not be submerged by the things of the world; let them not take upon themselves the burden of worldly goods; let their senses be controlled; let them be wise but not puffed up, and let them not desire great possessions even for their families. Let them do nothing that is mean or that the wise would reprove.

May all beings be happy and at their ease. May they be joyous and live in safety.

All beings, whether weal or strong—omitting none—in high, middle, or low realms of existence, small or great, visible or invisible, near or far away, born or to be born: may all beings be happy and at their ease.

Let none deceive another, or despise any being in any state. Let none by anger or ill-will wish harm to another.

Even as a mother watches over and protects her only child, so with a boundless mind should one cherish all living beings, radiating friendliness over the entire world, above, below, and all around without limit. So let them cultivate a boundless good will toward the entire world, unlimited, free from ill-will or enmity.

Standing or walking, sitting or lying down, during all their waking hours, let them establish this mindfulness of good will, which is the highest state.

Abandoning vain discussions, having a clear vision, free from sense appetites, those who are perfect will never again know rebirth.

--The Buddha

All Night The Cicada Chirps

2011-04-04T14:25:00.000-07:00

“All night the cicada chirps;

all day the grasshopper jumps.

Before I saw my love,

my heart was confused.

But now that I have seen him,

now that I have met him,

my heart is calm”

“I climbed the southern hill

to pick the fern shoots.

Before I saw my love,

my heart was troubled.

But now that I have seen her,

now that I have met her,

my heart is at peace.

“I climbed the southern hill

to pick the bracken shoots.

Before I saw my love,

my heart was sad.

But now that I have seen her,

now that I have met her,

my heart is serene.”

--The Book of Songs

Psalm 148

2011-03-30T14:28:00.000-07:00

Praise God in the highest heavens;

praise him beyond the stars.

Praise him, you bodhisattvas,

and you angels burning with his love.

Praise him in the depths of matter,

praise him in atomic space.

Praise him, you whirling electrons,

you unimaginable quarks.

Praise him in lifeless galaxies;

praise him from the pit of black holes.

Praise him, creatures on all planets,

inconceivable forms of life.

Let them all praise the Unnamable,

for he is their source, their home.

He make them in all their beauty

and the laws by which they exist.

Praise God upon the earth,

whales and all creatures of the sea,

fire, hail, snow, and frost,

hurricanes fulfilling his command,

mountains and barren hills,

fruit trees and cedar forests,

wild animals and tame,

reptiles, insects, birds,

creatures invisible to the eye,

and tiniest one-celled beings,

rich and poor, powerful

and oppressed, dark-skinned and light-skinned,

men and women alike,

old and young together.

Let them praise the Unnamable God,

whose goodness is the breath of life,

who had made us in his own image,

the light that fills heaven and earth.

--The Book of Psalms

Psalm 100

2011-03-30T14:26:00.001-07:00

Sing to the Lord, all creatures!

Worship him with your joy;

praise him with the sound of your laughter.

Know that we all belong to him,

that he is our source and our home.

Enter his light with thanksgiving;

fill your hearts with his praise.

For his goodness is beyond comprehension,

and his deep love endures forever.

--The Book of Psalms

Epithalamion

2011-03-18T14:29:00.001-07:00

Long may this happy heaven-tied band

Exercise its most holy art,

Keeping her heart within his hand,

Keeping his hand upon her heart

Except from her eyes

Feel he no charms;

Find she no joy

But in his arms;

May each maintain a well-fledged nest

Of winged loves in either’s breast;

Be each of them a mutual sacrifice

Of either’s eyes.

May their whole life a sweet song prove

Set to two well-composed parts

By music’s noblest master, Love,

Played on the strings of both their hearts;

Whose mutual sound

May ever meet

In a just round

Not short though sweet;

Long may heaven listen to the song

And think it short though it be long;

Oh, prove’t a well-set song indeed, which shows

Sweetest in the close.

--Richard Crashaw

From "Several Questions Answered"

2011-03-18T14:28:00.000-07:00

What is it men in women do require?

The lineaments of Gratified Desire.

What is it women do in men require?

The lineaments of Gratified Desire.

William Blake

Variation On The Word Sleep

2011-03-18T14:25:00.000-07:00

I would like to watch you sleeping.

I would like to watch you,

sleeping. I would like to sleep

with you, to enter

your sleep as its smooth dark wave

slides over my head

and walk with you through that lecent

wavering forest of bluegreen leaves

with its watery sun & three moons

towards the cave where you must descend,

towards your worst fear

I would like to give you the silver

branch, the small white flower, the one

word that will protect you

from the grief at the center

of your dream, from the grief

at the center. I would like to follow

you up the long stairway

again & become

the boat that would row you back

carefully, a flame

in two cupped hands

to where your body lies

beside me, and you enter

it as easily as breathing in

I would like to be the air

that inhabits you for a moment

only. I would like to be that unnoticed

& that necessary.

--Margaret Atwood

Sukey, You Shall Be My Wife

2011-03-18T14:23:00.000-07:00

Sukey, you shall be my wife

And I will tell you why;

I have got a little pig,

And you have got a sty;

I have got a dun cow,

And you can make good cheese.

Sukey, will you marry me?

Say Yes, if you please.

--Anonymous

Lavender's Blue, Dilly, Dilly, Lavender's Green

2011-03-18T14:20:00.000-07:00

“Lavender’s blue, dilly, dilly, lavender’s green,

When I am King, dilly, dilly, you shall be Queen.”

“Who told yo so, dilly, dilly, who told you so?”

“‘Twas mine own heart, dilly, dilly, that told me so”

“Call up your men, dilly, dully, set them to work,

Some with a rake, dilly, dilly, some with a fork,

Some to make hay, dilly, dilly, some to thresh corn,

While you and I, dilly, dilly, keep ourselves warm.”

“If it should hap, dilly, dilly, if it should change,

We shall be gay, dilly, dilly, we shall both dance.

Lavender’s blue, dilly, dilly, lavender’s green,

You shall be King, dilly, dilly, when I am Queen.”

--Anonymous

From "Letters"

2011-03-18T14:09:00.000-07:00

Once the realization is accepted that even between the closest people infinite distances exist, a marvelous living side-by-side can grow up for them, if they succeed in loving the expanse between them, which gives them the possibility of always seeing each other as a whole and before an immense sky.

--Rainer Maria Rilke

Turn Me Like A Waterwheel Turning A Millstone

2011-03-17T06:50:00.000-07:00

Turn me like a waterwheel turning a millstone.

Plenty of water, Living Water.

Keep me in one place and scatter the love.

Leaf moves in a wind, straw drawn toward amber,

all parts of the world are in love,

but they do not tell their secrets: Cows grazing

on a sacramental table, ants whispering in Solomon’s ear.

Mountains mumbling an echo. Sky, calm.

If the sun were not in love, he would have no brightness,

the side of the hill no grass on it.

The ocean would come to rest somewhere.

Be a lover as they are, that you come to know

your Beloved. Be faithful that you may know

Faith. The other parts of the universe did not accept

the next responsibility of love as you can.

They were afraid they might make a mistake

with it, the inspired knowing

that springs from being in love.

--Rumi

My Heart Is Like A Singing Bird

2011-03-17T06:47:00.000-07:00

My heart is like a singing bird

Whose nest is in a watered shoot:

My heart is like an apple-tree

Whose boughs are bent with thickset fruit;

My heart is like a rainbow shell

That paddles in a halcyon sea;

My heart is gladder than all these

Because my love is come to me.

Raise me a dais of silk and down;

Hang it with vair and purple dyes;

Carve it in doves and pomegranates,

And peacocks with a hundred eyes;

Work it in gold and silver grapes,

In leaves and silver fleurs-de-lys;

Because the birthday of my life

Is come, my love is come to me.

--Christina Rossetti

I Have Come Into My Garden

2011-03-16T12:35:00.000-07:00

I have come into my garden,

My sister, my bride,

I have gathered the myrrh and spices,

I have eaten from the honeycomb,

I have drunk the milk and the wine.

Feast, friends, and drink

Till you are drunk with love!

-The Song of Songs

Wedding Song: Lullaby for Sleepy Lovers

2011-03-16T12:31:00.000-07:00

Hail bride and bridegroom, children both of Jove,

With fruitful joys let Hera bless your love!

Let Venus furnish you with full desires,

Add vigor to your wills and fuel your fires!

Let Jove, and luck, augment your wealthy store,

Give much to you, and to your children more!

From generous loins a generous race will spring,

Each girl will be a queen, each boy a king.

So sleep if sleep you can, but while you rest,

Sleep close, with folded arms, and breast to breast.

Rise in the morn, but oh! before you rise,

Do not neglect your morning exercise!

Just as, when night and winter disappear,

The purple morning, rising with the year,

Salutes the spring, so you, with wond’ring eyes,

Should light the world and brighten all the skies!

-Theocritus

Shoshone Wedding Song

2011-03-14T19:43:00.000-07:00

Bride:

“Not a spirit, not a bird
Made the lupine rustle.
That was my heart you heard
And the rustle of my hem
As I walked in the grasses.
That was my heart you heard
When you came to the willows.”

Groom:

“Not a spirit, not a bird,
That was my flute you heard
Last night by the river.
When you came with your wicker jar
Where the river tugs at the willows,
That was my flute you heard
Calling, Come to the willows.”

--Mary Austin

“The tongues of the lightning Snakes”

2011-01-22T12:55:00.000-08:00

The tongues of the lightning Snakes flicker and twist, one to the other.
They flash across the foliage of the cabbage palms.
Lightning flashes through the clouds with the flickering tongues of the snakes.
It is always there, at the wide expanse of water, at the place of the sacred tree.
All over the sky their tongues flicker, above the place called Rising Clouds, the place called Standing Clouds.
All over the sky tongues flickering and twisting.
They are always there at the camp by the wide expanse of water.
All over the sky the tongues flicker: at the place called Two Sisters where the guardian ancestors are
Lighting flashes throught the clouds, flash of the Lightning Snake.
Its blinding flash lights up the cabbage palms,
Gleams on the cabbage palms and on the shining leaves.

--Aboriginal Australian Song

Abanaki Song

2011-01-22T12:42:00.000-08:00

Photo by Mark Samuels at Phototrektours.com

Come, my beloved, let us go up the shining mountain, and sit together;
we will watch the sun go down in beauty from that shining place.
We will sit there till the Night Traveler rises in beauty above the shining mountain;
we will watch him as he climbs to the skies.
We will watch also the little stars following their chief.
We will watch the northern lights playing their game of ball in their cold, glistening country.
We will sit there on the beautiful mountain while the thunder beats his drum.
We will see the flashes from the lit pipe of the lightning.
We will see the great whirlwind race with the squall.
We will sit there until all creatures drowse.
There we will hear the great owl sing his usual song: “Go to sleep, go to sleep,”
and see all animals obey his call.
We will sit there in beauty on the mountain, and watch the small stars in their sleepless flight.
They do not mind the song “Go to sleep”;
and the Night Traveler will come closer,
to warn us that everything is sleeping except ourselves and the little stars.
They and their chief are coursing along, and our minds go with them.
Then the owl sleeps; and his call to sleep sleeps;
and the lightning’s flash from a long way off;
the great pipe is going out;
and the thunder ceases to beat his drum;
and though our bodies urge us to sleep,
we sit in beauty, very still, upon the shining mountain.

From "A Wedding"

2011-01-22T12:32:00.000-08:00

Into the enormous sky flew
a whirlwind of blue-gray patches—
a flock of doves spiraling up
suddenly from the dovecotes.

And to see them makes you wish,
just as the wedding-feast is ending,
years of happiness for this couple,
flung onto the wind like doves.

Life too is only an instant,
only a dissolving of ourselves
into everyone,
as if we gave ourselves as gifts.

Only a wedding, only the depths
of a window and the sound rushing in,
only a song, or a dream,
only a blue-gray dove.

--Boris Pasternak

Sheva Berachot (Traditional Seven Blessings)

2011-01-21T05:20:00.000-08:00

Blessed are You, Lord our God, King of the Universe, Creator of the fruit of the vine.

Blessed are You, Lord our God, King of the Universe, Who created everything for his glory.

Blessed are You, Lord our God, King of the Universe, Creator of man.

Blessed are You, Lord our God, King of the Universe, Who created man in His image in the image of His likeness, and provided for perpetuation of His kind. Blessed are You, Who formed man.

Let the barren city (Jerusalem) be jubilantly happy and joyful at her joyous reunion with her children. Blessed are You, Who fills Zion with the joy of her children.

May You gladden the loving couple as you gladdened Your creations in the Garden of Eden of old. Blessed are You, Who fills the groom and bride with joy.

Blessed are You, Lord our God, King of the Universe, Who created joy and celebration, groom and bride, rejoicing, jubilation, pleasure and delight, love and brotherhood, peace and friendship. May there soon be heard, Lord our God, in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem, the sound of joy and the sound of celebration, the voice of a groom and the voice of a bride, the happy shouting of grooms from bridal canopies, and of young men from their feasts of song. Blessed are You Who makes the groom and bride rejoice together.

From “Letters to a Young Poet”

2011-01-06T11:33:00.001-08:00

Someday there will be girls and women whose name will no longer mean the mere opposite of the male, but something in itself, something that makes one think not of any complement, but only of life and reality: the female human being. This advance will transform to love experience, which is now filled with error, will change it from the ground up, and reshape it into a relationship that is meant to be between one human being and another, no longer one that flows from man to woman. And this more human love (which will fulfill itself with infinite consideration and gentleness, and kindness and clarity in binding and releasing) will resemble what we are now preparing painfully and with great struggle: the love that consists in this: that two solitudes protect and border and greet each other.

- Rainer Maria Rilke

"The Owl and the Pussy-Cat"

2011-01-06T11:29:00.000-08:00

The Owl and the Pussy-Cat went to sea

In a beautiful pea-green boat:

They took some honey, and plenty of money

Wrapped up in a five-pound note.

The Owl looked up to the stars above,

And sang to a small guitar,

“O lovely Pussy, O Pussy, my love,

What a beautiful Pussy you are,

You are,

You are!

What a beautiful Pussy you are!”

Pussy said to the Owl, “You elegant fowl,

How charmingly sweet you sing!

Oh! let us be married; too long we have tarried:

But what shall we do for a ring?”

They sailed away, for a year and a day,

To the land where the bong-tree grows;

And there in a wood a Piggy-wig stood,

With a ring at the end of his nose,

His nose,

With a ring at the end of his nose.

“Dear Pig, are you willing to sell for one shilling

Your ring?” Said the Piggy, “I will.”

So they took it away, and were married next day

By the Turkey who lives on the hill.

They dined on mince and slices of quince,

Which they ate with a runcible spoon;

And hang in hang, on the edge of the sand,

They danced by the light of the moon,

The moon,

They danced by the light of the moon.

- Edward Lear

"Is It for Now or for Always"

2011-01-06T11:27:00.000-08:00

Is it for now or for always,

The world hangs on a stalk?

Is it a trick or a trysting place,

The woods we have found to walk?

Is it a mirage or a miracle,

Your lips that lift at mine:

And the suns like a juggler’s juggling-balls,

Are they a sham or a sign?

Shine out, my sudden angel,

Break fear with breast and brow,

I take you now and for always,

For always is always now.

- Philip Larkin

From "The Imitation of Christ"

2011-01-06T11:25:00.000-08:00

Love is a great thing, a great good in every way; it alone lightens what is heavy, and leads smoothly over all roughness. For it carries a burden without being burdened, and makes every bitter thing sweet and tasty. Love wants to be lifted up, not held back by anything low. Love wants to be free, and far from all worldly desires, so that its inner vision may not be dimmed and good fortune bind it or misfortune cast it down. Nothing is sweeter than love; nothing stronger, nothing higher, nothing wider; nothing happier nothing fuller, nothing better in heaven and earth; for love is born of God…

Love keeps watch and is never unaware, even when it sleeps; tired, it is never exhausted; hindered, it is never defeated; alarmed, it is never afraid; but like a living flame and a burning torch it bursts upward and blazes forth…

Love is quick, sincere, dutiful, joyous, and pleasant; brave, patient, faithful, prudent, serene, and vigorous; and it never seeks itself. For whenever we seek ourselves, we fall away from love. Love is watchful, humble, and upright; not weak, or frivolous, or directed toward vain things; temperate, pure, steady, calm, and alert in all the senses. Love is devoted and thankful to God, always trusting and hoping in him, even when it doesn’t taste his sweetness, for without pain no one can live in love.

- Thomas A Kempis

"A Wedding Toast"

2011-01-06T11:23:00.000-08:00

St. John tells how, at Cana’s wedding-feast,

The water-pots poured wine in such amount

That by his sober count

There were a hundred gallons at the least.

It made no earthy sense, unless to show

How whatsoever love elects to bless

Brims to a sweet excess

That can without depletion overflow.

Which is to say that what love sees is true;

That the world’s fullness is not made but found.

Life hungers to abound

And pour its plenty out for such as you.

Now, if your loves will lend an ear to mine,

I toast you both, good son and dear new daughter.

May you not lack for water,

And may that water smack of Cana’s wine.

- Richard Wilbur

"We Tow, How Long We Were Fool'd"

2011-01-05T12:45:00.001-08:00

We two, how long we were fool’d

Now transmuted, we swiftly escape as Nature escapes,

We are Nature, long have we been absent, but now we return,

We become plants, trunks, foliage, roots, bark,

We are bedded in the ground, we are rocks,

We are oaks, we grow in the opening side by side,

We browse, we are two among the wild herds spontaneous as any,

We are two fishes swimming in the sea together,

We are what locust blossoms are, we drop scent around lanes mornings and evenings,

We are also the coarse smut of beasts, vegetables, minerals,

We are two predatory hawks, we soar above and look down,

We are two resplendent suns, we it is who balance ourselves orbic and stellar, we are as two comets,

We prowl fang’d and four-footed in the woods, we spring on prey,

We are two clouds forenoons and afternoons driving overhead,

We are seas mingling, we are two of those cheerful waves rolling over each other and interwetting each other,

We are that the atmosphere is, transparent, receptive, pervious, impervious,

We are snow, rain, cold, darkness, we are each product and influence of the globe,

We have circled and circled till we have arrived home again, we two,

We have voided all but freedom and all but our own joy.

- Walt Whitman

"I'll give my love an apple without a core"

2011-01-05T12:44:00.000-08:00

I’ll give my love an apple without a core,

Ill give my love a house without a door,

Ill give my love a palace wherein she may be,

And she may unlock it without any key.

My head is the apple without a core,

My mind is the house without a door,

My heart is the palace wherein she may be,

And she may unlock it without any key

- Anonymous

"You that love Lovers"

2011-01-05T12:41:00.001-08:00

You that love Lovers,

this is your home. Welcome!

In the midst of making form, Love

made this form that melts form,

with love for the door, and

Soul, the vestibule.

Watch the dust grains moving

in the light near the window.

Their dance is our dance.

We rarely hear the inward music,

but we’re all dancing to it nevertheless,

directed by what teaches us,

the pure joy of the sun,

our Music Master.

- Rumi

"Sonnet XVII"

2011-01-05T12:37:00.001-08:00

I don’t love you as if you were the salt-rose, topaz

or arrow of carnations that propagate fire:

I love you as certain dark things are loved,

secretly, between the shadow and the soul.

I love you as the plant that doesn’t bloom and carries

hidden within itself the light of those flowers,

and thanks to your love, darkly in my body

lives the dense fragrance that rises from the earth.

I love you without knowing how, or when or from where,

I love you simply, without problems or pride:

I love you in this way because I don’t know any other way of loving

but this, in which there is no I or you,

so intimate that your had upon my chest is my hand,

so intimate that when I fall asleep it is your eyes that close.

- Pablo Neruda

"Song"

2011-01-05T12:35:00.000-08:00

Do not fear to put thy feet

Naked in the river sweet;

Think not leech, or newt, or toad

Will bite thy foot, when thou hast trod:

Nor let the water rising high

As thou wad’st in, make thee cry

And sob; but ever live with me

And not a wave shall trouble thee.

- John Fletcher

“At the Wedding March”

2011-01-04T19:44:00.000-08:00

God with honour hang your head,
Groom, and grace you, bride, your bed
With lissome scions, sweet scions,
Out of hallowed bodies bred.

Each be other’s comfort kind:
Deep, deeper than divined,
Divine charity, dear charity,
Fast you ever, fast bind.

Then let the March tred our ears:
I to him turn with tears
Who to wedlock, his wonder wedlock,
Deals triumph and immortal years.

--Gerard Manley Hopkins

“Of all the Souls that stand create—“

2011-01-04T19:24:00.000-08:00

Of all the Souls that stand create—
I have elected—One—
When Sense from Spirit—flies away—
And Subterfuge—is done—
When that which is—and that which was—
Apart—intrinsic—stand—
And this brief Drama in the flesh—
Is shifted—like a Sand—
When Figures show their royal Front—
And Mists—are carved away,
Behold the Atom—I preferred—
To all the lists of Clay!

--Emily Dickinson

“Wild Nights—Wild Nights!”

2011-01-04T19:21:00.000-08:00

Wild Nights—Wild Nights!
Where I with thee
Wild Nights should be
Our luxury!

Futile—the Winds—
To a Heart in port—
Done with the Compass—
Done with the Chart!

Rowing in Eden—
Hi, the Sea!
Might I but moor—Tonight—
In Thee!

--Emily Dickinson

“The Two of You”

2011-01-04T19:07:00.000-08:00

Don’t run anymore. Quiet. How softly it rains
On the roofs of the city. How perfect
All things are. Now, for the two of you
Waking up in a royal bed by a garret window.
For a man and a woman. For one plant divided
Into masculine and feminine which longed for each other.
Yes, this is my gift to you. Above ashes
On a bitter, bitter earth. Above the subterranean
Echo of clamoring and vows. So that now at dawn
Yu must be attentive: the tilt of a head,
A hand with a comb, two faces in a mirror
Are only forever once, even if unremembered,
So that you will watch what is, though it fades away,
And are grateful every moment for your being.
Let that little park with greenish marble busts
In the pearl-gray light, under a summer drizzle,
Remain as it was when you opened the gate.
And the street of tall peeling porticoes
Which this love of yours suddenly transformed.

--Czeslaw Milosz

From “Love Song”

2011-01-04T18:58:00.000-08:00

Everything that touches us, me and you,
takes us together like a violin’s bow,
which draws one voice out of two separate strings.
Upon what instrument are we two spanned?
And what musician holds us in his hand?
Oh sweetest song.

--Rainer Maria Rilke

Irish Blessing

2010-11-11T00:14:00.000-08:00

Photo by David Mielcarek

May the road rise to meet you.
May the wind be always at your back.
May the sun shine warm upon your face,
The rains fall soft upon the fields.
May the light of friendship guide your paths together.
May the laughter of children grace the halls of your home.
May the joy of living for one another trip a smile from your lips, a twinkle from your eye.
And when eternity beckons, at the end of a life heaped high with love,
May the good Lord embrace you with the arms that have nurtured you the whole length of your joy-filled days.
May the gracious God hold you both in the palm of His hands.
And, today, may the Spirit of Love find a dwelling place in your hearts

Arabic Blessing

2010-11-10T19:50:00.000-08:00

Photograph courtesy of John Mazlish

You are my friend. And a friend is one to whom one may pour out all the contents of one's heart, chaff and grain together, knowing that the gentlest of hands will take and sift it, keep what is worth keeping and, with the breath of kindness, blow the rest away.

The Years

2010-11-10T19:43:00.000-08:00

To-night I close my eyes and see
A strange procession passing me --
The years before I saw your face
Go by me with a wistful grace;
They pass, the sensitive shy years,
As one who strives to dance, half blind with tears.

The years went by and never knew
That each one brought me nearer you;
Their path was narrow and apart
And yet it led me to your heart --
Oh sensitive shy years, oh lonely years,
That strove to sing with voices drowned in tears.

-- Sara Teasdale

from "Know Deeply, Know Thyself More Deeply"

2010-11-10T19:26:00.000-08:00

Go deeper than love, for the soul has greater depths,
love is like the grass, but the heart is deep wild rock
molten, yet dense and permanent.

Go down to your deep old heart, and lose sight of yourself.
And lose sight of me, the me whom you turbulently loved.

Let us lose sight of ourselves, and break the mirrors.
For the fierce curve of our lives is moving again to the depths
out of sight, in the deep living heart.

--D.H. Lawrence, from "Know Deeply, Know Thyself More Deeply"

Quotes to Consider

2010-10-29T19:11:00.000-07:00

Whoso loves believes the impossible.
--Elizabeth Barrett Browning

In dreams and in love, there are no impossibilitys.
--Janos Arany

Those alone are wise who know how to love.
--Seneca

Being deeply loved by someone gives you strength,
While loving someone deeply gives you courage.
--Lao Tzu

What lies behind us, and what lies before us are tiny matters
compared to what lies within us.
--Ralph Waldo Emerson

I love thee. I love but thee
With a love that shall not die
Till the sun grows cold
And the stars grow old.
--William Shakespeare

I never knew how to worship until I knew how to love.
--Henry Ward Beecher

Heaven will be no heaven to me if I do not meet my wife there.
--Andrew Jackson

If I know what love is, it is because of you.
--Hermann Hesse

Love doesn't make the world go round,
Love is what makes the ride worthwhile.
--Elizabeth Barrett Browning

Hindu Marriage Poem

2010-10-29T18:39:00.000-07:00

You have become mine forever.
Yes, we have become partners.
I have become your.
Hereafter, I cannot live without you.
Do not live without me.
Let us share the joys.
We are word and meaning, united.
You are thought and I am sound.

May the nights be honey-sweet for us.
May the mornings be honey-sweet for us.
May the plants be honey-sweet for us.
May the earth be honey-sweet for us.

A Marriage

2010-10-29T18:34:00.000-07:00

You are holding up a ceiling
with both arms. It is very heavy,
but you must hold it up, or else
it will fall down on you. Your arms
are tired, terribly tired,
and, as the day goes on, it feels
as if either your arms or the ceiling
will soon collapse.

But then,
unexpectedly,
something wonderful happens:
Someone,
a man or a woman,
walks into the room
and holds their arms up
to the ceiling beside you.

So you finally get
to take down your arms.
You feel the relief of respite,
the blood flowering back
to your fingers and arms.
And when you partner's arms tire,
you hold up your own
to relieve him again.

And it can go on like this
for many years
without the house falling.

--Michael Blumenthal

A History of Love

2010-10-29T18:17:00.000-07:00

Love. What a small word we use for an idea so immense and powerful it has altered the flow of history, calmed monsters, kindled works of art, cheered the forlorn, turned tough guys to mush, consoled the enslaved, driven strong women mad, glorified the humble, fueled national scandals, bankrupted robber barons, and made mincemeat of kings. How can love's spaciousness be conveyed in the narrow confines of one syllable?...Love is an ancient delirium, a desire older than civilization, with taproots stretching deep into dark and mysterious days....
The heart is a living museum. In each of its galleries, no matter how narrow or dimly lit, preserved forever like wondrous diatoms, are moments of loving and being loved.

--Diane Ackerman

Patagonia

2010-10-29T04:08:00.000-07:00

I said perhaps Patagonia , and pictured
a peninsula, wide enough
for a couple of ladderback chairs
to wobble on at high tide. I thought

of us in breathless cold, facing
a horizon round as a coin, looped
in a cat's cradle strung by gulls
from sea to sun. I planned to wait

till the waves had bored themselves
to sleep, till the last clinging barnacles,
growing worried in the hush, had
paddled off in tiny coracles, till

those restless birds, your actor's hands,
had dropped slack into your lap,
until you'd turned, at last, to me.

When I spoke of Patagonia , I meant
skies all empty aching blue. I meant
years. I meant all of them with you

--Kate Clanchy

Excerpt from "The Irrational Season"

2010-10-21T22:43:00.000-07:00

But ultimately there comes a moment when a decision must be made. Ultimately two people who love each other must ask themselves how much they hope for as their love grows and deepens, and how much risk they are willing to take…..It is indeed a fearful gamble…Because it is the nature of love to create, a marriage itself is something which has to be created, so that, together we become a new creature.

To marry is the biggest risk in human relations that a person can take….If we commit ourselves to one person for life this is not, as many people think, a rejection of freedom; rather it demands the courage to move into all the risks of freedom, and the risk of love which is permanent; into that love is not a possession, but participation…It takes a lifetime to learn another person….When love is not possession, but participation, then it is part of that co-creation which is our human calling, and which implies such risk that is often rejected.

--Madeleine L'Engle

Photo from 3 West Club

Wintu Song

2010-09-29T19:22:00.000-07:00

Where will you and I sleep?
At the down-turned jagged rim of the sky
You and I will sleep.
You and I will sleep together.

--from the translation of Dorothy Demetracopoulou
(adapted by Robert Hass)

The Rewaking

2010-09-29T19:18:00.000-07:00

Sooner or later
we must come to the end
of striving

to re-establish
the image the image of
the rose

but not yet
you say extending the
time indefinitely

by
your love until a whole
spring

rekindle
the violet to the very
lady's-slipper

and so by
your love the very sun
itself is revived.

--William Carlos Williams

Marriage

2010-09-29T19:11:00.000-07:00

So different, this man
And this woman:
A stream flowing
In a field.

--William Carlos Williams

A Reading by Robert Louis Stevenson

2010-09-29T19:03:00.000-07:00

I will make you brooches and toys for your delight,
Of bird-song at morning and star-shine at night.
I will build a palace fit for you and me,
Of green days in forests and blue days at sea.

I will make my kitchen, and you shall keep your room
Where white flows the river and bright blos the broom,
And you shall wash your linen and keep your body white
In rainfall at morning and dewfall at night.

And this shall be for music when no one else is near,
The fine song for singing, the rare song to hear!
That only I remember, that only you admire,
Of the broad road that stretches and the roadside fire.

--Robert Louis Stevenson

When Someone Listens to You Deeply

2010-09-21T18:49:00.000-07:00

When someone deeply listens to you
it is like holding out a dented cup
you've had since childhood
and watching it fill up with
cold, fresh water.
When it balances on top of the brim,
you are understood.
When it overflows and touches your skin,
you are loved.

When someone deeply listens to you,
the room where you stay
starts a new life
and the place where you wrote
your first poem
begins to glow in your mind's eye.
It is as if gold has been discovered!

When someone deeply listens to you,
your bare feet are on the earth
and a beloved land that seem distant
is now at home within you.

--John Fox
in Finding What you Didn't Lose

A Summer Love Poem

2010-09-21T18:43:00.000-07:00

clouds float by on a summer sky
i hop scotch over you
rainbows arch from ground to gold
i climb over to you
thunder grumbles
lightning tumbles and i bounced over to you
sun beams back and catches me
smiling over you

--Nikki Giovanni

Come Rain or Come Shine

2010-09-19T07:03:00.000-07:00

I'm gonna love you
Like nobodys loved you,
come rain or come shine.
High as a mountain
And deep as a river,
come rain or come shine.

I guess when you met me
It was just one of those things,
But don't ever bet me,
'Cause I'm gonna be true if you let me.

You're gonna love me
Like nobody's loved me,
Come rain or come shine.
Happy together,
Unhappy together
And won't it be fine.

Days may be cloudy or sunny,
We're in or we're out of the money,
But I'm with you always,
I'm with you rain or shine!

--Johnny Mercer and Harold Arlen

2010-09-19T06:52:00.000-07:00

It is the true season
of Love
when we know that
we alone can love,
that no one could ever
have loved before us
and that no one
will ever Love
in the same way
after us.

--Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe

Reprise

2010-09-19T06:47:00.000-07:00

Geniuses from countless nations
Have told their love for generations
Till their memorable phrases
Are common as goldenrod or daises.
Their girls have glimmered like the moon,
Or shimmered like the summer noon
Stood like lily, fled like faun,
Now the sunset, now the dawn,
Here the princess in the tower
There the sweet forbidden flower
Darling, when I look at you
Every aged phrase is new,
And there are moments when it seems
I've married on of Shakespeare's dreams.

--Ogden Nash

2010-09-19T06:34:00.000-07:00

From every human being there rises a light that reaches straight to heaven. And when two souls that are destined to be together find each other, their streams of light flow together, and a single brighter light goes forth from their united being.

--Baal Shem Tov

Cherish Every Moment

2010-09-19T06:29:00.000-07:00

Today is the beginning of a dream.
A day where two souls are woven together.
Cherish every moment that life offers.
And celebrate every small pleasure.
Express your love at every chance
And allow it to unfold gracefully.
Show your devotion and dedicate your lives
to the enrichment of each other.
Strive always for honesty and integrity.
Build upon your marriage daily.
And seek to understand each other.
But above all this......
Draw upon the love you feel today
and forever etch it in your hearts.

--Leslie Nielson

Little Gifts containing Big Ideas

2010-08-30T19:53:00.000-07:00

Courtesy of A World of Ways to Say “I Do” by Noah Benshea and Jordan Benshea

Love conquers all things; let us too surrender to love. –Virgil

If love were what the rose is, and I were like the leaf, our lives would grow together in sad and singing weather. –Algernon Charles Swinburne

Love is the joy of the good, the wonder of the wise, the amazement of the Gods. –Plato

Love is a fruit in season at all times, and within the reach of every hand. –Mother Teresa

What greater thing is there for two human souls than to feel that they are joined together to strengthen each other in all labor, to minister to each other in all sorrow, to share with each other all gladness, to be one with each other in the silent unspoken memories? --George Eliot

In marriage, every day you love, and every day you forgive. It is an ongoing sacrament, love and forgiveness. –Bill Moyers

And now here is my secret, a very simple secret; it is only with the heart that one can see rightly, what is essential is invisible to the eye. – Antoine de Saint-Exupery

A good marriage is that in which each appoints the other guardian of his solitude. –Ranier Maria Rilke

There is no remedy for love but to love more. –Henry David Thoreau

We are shaped and fashioned by what we love. –Goethe

Immature love says, “I love you because I need you.” Mature love says, “I need you because I love you.” –Erich Fromm

Life has taught me that love does not consist of gazing at each other but looking outward together in the same direction. –Antoine de Saint-Exupery

The best portion of a good man’s life, his little, nameless, unremembered acts, of kindness and love. –William Wordsworth

Kindness in words creates confidence. Kindness in thought creates profoundness. Kindness in giving creates love. –Lao-Tzu

Photo courtesty of John Mazlish

Love is Enough

2010-08-25T19:30:00.000-07:00

Love is enough: though the World be a-waning,
And the woods have no voice but the voice of complaining,
though the sky be too dark for dim eyes to discover
The gold-cups and daisies fair blooming thereunder,
Though the hills be held shadows, and the sea a dark wonder
And this day draw a veil over all deeds passed over,
Yet their hands shall not tremble, their feet shall not falter;
The void shall not weary, the fear shall not alter
These lips and these eys of the loved and the lover

In the Month of May

2010-08-25T19:25:00.000-07:00

In the month of May when all leaves open,
I see when I walk how well all things
lean on each other, how the bees work,
the fish make their living the first day.
Monarchs fly high; then I understand
I love you with what in me is unfinished.

I love you wish what in me is still
changing, what has no head or arms
or legs, what has not found its body
And why shouldn't the miraculous,
caught on this earth, visit
the old man alone in his hut?

And why shouldn't Gabriel, who loves honey,
be fed with our own radishes and walnuts?
And lovers, tough ones, how many there are
whose holy bodies are not yet born.
Along the roads, I see so many places
I would like us to spend the night.

--Robert Bly

The Dance

2010-08-25T19:17:00.000-07:00

I would have each couple turn,
join and unjoin, be lost
in the greater turning
of other couples, woven
in the circle of a dance,
the song of long time flowing.

over them, so they may return,
turn again in to themselves
out of desire greater than their own,
belonging to all, to each
to the dance, and to the song,
that moves them through the night.

What is fidelity? To what
does it hold The point
of departure, or the turning road
that is departure and absence
and the way home? What we are
and what we were once

are far estranged. For those
who would not change, time
is infidelity. But we are married
until death, and are betrothed
to change. By silence, so,
I learn my song. I earn

my sunny fields by absence, once
and to come. And I love you
as I love the dance that brings you
out of the multitude
in which you come and go.
love changes, and in change is true.

--Wendell Berry

The Peace: A Wedding Song

2010-08-25T19:11:00.000-07:00

It's time to say words of good omen
And to bring for the bridegroom and bride,
It's time for us to take torches and dance and rejoice.
We can take the farm tools back to the fields
after we've danced and poured wine and chased out bad luck
And after we've prayed to the gods of earth, sea, and sky
to help us to an ample life,
To grant us a good crop of barley
And plenty of wine
And figs to munch on,
and that we bring forth children, supple-limbed, loud as their play,
And that all the good things we lose by war
Are returned to us when we gather ripe fruit for the wedding feast
And the fiery sword has been put away.

--Aristophanes

Re-statement of Romance

2010-08-25T19:05:00.000-07:00

The night knows nothing of the chants of night.
It is what it is as I am what I am:
And in perceiving this I best perceive myself

And you. Only we two may interchange
Each in the other what each has to give.
Only we two are one, not you and night,

Nor night and I, but you and I, alone,
So much alone, so deeply by ourselves,
So far beyond the casual solitudes,

That night is only the background of our selves,
Suprememly true each to its separate self,
In the pale light that each upon the other throws.

--Wallace Stevens

2010-08-25T18:57:00.000-07:00

This love is as good
as oil and honey to the throat,
as linen to the body,
as fine garments to the gods,
as incense to worshippers
when they enter in,
as the little seal-ring
to my finger.
It is like a ripe pear
in a man's hand,
it is like the dates
we mix with wine,
it is like the seeds
the baker adds to bread.
We will be together
even when old age comes.
And the days in between
will be food set before us,
dates and honey, bread and wine.

To My Wife

2010-08-25T11:35:00.000-07:00

If we were to multiply the love of mankind,
The love that was, and is, and will be,
It would be pitch black...My love is bright as day...
People have not yet experienced this feeling.

If we were to bring down all the stars from heaven,
All the suns of the heavens of the universe,
My love would burn brighter than
All the suns for a millennium of centuries....

If we were to gather all the flowers of all the planets,
That the wind rocks at dawn,
The smell of my love would be stronger than
The perfume of all the flowers through eternity...

From which star did you fall down here,
My comapnion, my dear friend, my wife?
Brighten my life, brighten it always,
You are the only one above all stars.

--Volodymyr Sosiura

She Sings

2010-08-25T11:04:00.000-07:00

She sing - and every impulse of her heart
She pours into those notes that she prolongs,
And all the burning diction of her songs
Flames with fire of passion and of art.

She sings - and youthful eyes with ardent zeal
Under her brows shine forth, than starts more bright...
How much of dauntless hope is in their light,
How many dreams of rapture they reveal!

Let her sing, and let her songs beguile,
And let those eyes of hers both flash and smile,
And let the fire of love within them blaze!

Yet, let her sing! Since for no second time
The golden spring will blossom thus sublime
And from her soul burst forth in vocal praise!

--Boris Hrinchenko

2010-08-25T10:58:00.000-07:00

A green grove
A clear brook
On the green maple tree
A singing nightingale.

A maiden by the brook
Made two crowns
And her white hand
Let them go on the water.

One is made of periwinkle,
The other of ruta;
One crown is for the Kozak,
The other for her.

:Go crown of periwinkle
Down to the bank;
Come back to my beloved from Ukraine
Take me into your arms.

When will you, crown of periwinkle
Reach the other bank?
When will you, my beloved Kozk
Come back from Ukraine?"

The dove cooed
In the grove, right in the middle;
And a strangely sad feeling
Overtook the maiden.

"In Ukraine, on the grave
The guelder-rose bloomed
There, your kozak is resting
My dear orphan child.

When the waters which passed here
Seven years ago, come back
Then will your dear Kozak
Come back from the Ukraine."

---Jakiv Holovats'kyi

Aboriginal Australian Song

2010-08-25T10:34:00.000-07:00

The tongues of the lightning Snakes flicker and twist, one to the other.
They flash across the foliage of the cabbage palms.
Lightning flashes through the clouds with the flickering tongues of the
          snakes.
It is always there, at the wide expanse of water, at the place of the
          sacred tree.
All over the sky their tongues flicker, above the place called Rising
          Clouds, the place called Standing Clouds.
All over the sky tongues flickering and twisting.
They are always there at the camp by the wide expanse of water.
All over the sky the tongues flicker: at the place called Two Sisters
          where the guardian ancestors are.
Lightning flashes through the clouds, flash of the Lightning snake.
Its blinding flash lights up the cabbage palms,
Gleams on the cabbage palms on the shining leaves.

Ukrainian Love Proverbs

2010-08-25T10:18:00.000-07:00

Love can be neither bought nor sold.

Ancient love does not rust.

A kiss tells more than a whole book.

Wealth begins with a wife.

A woman without her mate is like borshch without bread.

Who loves well is ready to forgive.

The road to a heart is only known by another heart.

A good wife and good health are two most precious assets.

If a man could survive without a woman, God would not have created Eve.

You cannot hide light or love.

A beautiful bride brightens the home.

Love understands all languages.

The eye runs to what is dear to the heart.

You Know How the Linden Tree Whispers..... (Ukrainain Love Poem)

2010-08-25T09:49:00.000-07:00

You know how the linden tree whispers
In the springtime, at night, by the light of the moon?
          My love sleeps, my love sleeps,
          Let's go and wake her up, kiss her eyes.
          My love sleeps...
You heard because of the way the linden tree whispers.

Do you know how the old grove sleeps?
It sees everything, even through the fog.
          Here is the moon, here are the stars, the nightingales...
          "I am yours," overheard the old grove.
          And those nightingales...
Well! You already know, how the old grove sleeps!

--Pavlo Tychyna

Sonnet 116

2010-08-22T13:43:00.000-07:00

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.

Excerpt from the I Ching

2010-08-19T04:13:00.000-07:00

When two people are at one
in their inmost hearts,
they shatter even the strength of iron or bronze.
And when two people understand each other
in their inmost hearts,
their words are sweet and strong,
like the fragrance of orchids.

Hesitation

2010-08-19T03:24:00.000-07:00

In darkness, you held my hand,
You hesitated, nor did I move.
I said nothing as words remained in my throat.
And a breeze made me shiver slightly.

A soft breath issued from our mouth; I felt
It pass through my body and heart;
I yearned to keep that moment forever,
But it fled without a pause.

Willow

2010-08-19T03:20:00.000-07:00

Awakening spring; how many leaves!
Rustling dawn; how many branches!
Does she know the pangs of love?
Never a time she wouldn't dance.

Pussy willows aflutter--hide white butterfly.
Tendrils hanging limp --bare yellow oriole.
All-conquering beauty, perfect through and through.
Who would enjoy, just the brows of her eyes?

A Song of Chang Ching-Yuan: Picking Lotus Flowers

2010-08-19T03:14:00.000-07:00

Essence of orchids in her tumbled hair, a goddess of
          spring.
She takes the swallow hairpin from her nape, lessons
          coiled tresses.
Under the willows by west gate, near the bridge at dusk,
Moated waters past doorways, dabbled, riffled flow.
A prince of rare talents, visitor to the imperial court,
Shell fittings on his saddle all a-jangle, crosses the
          spring lane.

Dancing effortlessly on an open palm, her sheer skirt,
Tailored green dress, best of the colors of spring.
Like wafting smoke embracing the moon, waist
          measure round.
Scent of musk and dragon marrow, how lovely,
          graceful she is.

Clouds like Autumn curtains brush the water --
         fragments of bright movement,
Dew-laden flowers in profusion, their fragrance
        stems.

One evening the west wind comes bringing showers,
Searing, stripping bare the flowers, a melancholy pale
         red.
Boat prows sever lotus stems, but strands unseen hold
         fast,
For lotus roots, lotus seeds, preserve a mutual bond.
His heart is like the moon, a moon not yet on the wane,
Clear, bright and full in mid-month days.

Champion

2010-08-18T19:53:00.000-07:00

O my love, you are a champion;
But let's play a game of chess,
My aim is not to win,
I wish only to lose you --
My body and soul,
Both in their entirely.

I Have

2010-08-18T19:51:00.000-07:00

I have a thought
As I walk past you;
Like a mountain stream,
It's neither love nor attachment.

I have a thought
As I walk home;
Like a touch of aftergow
It's neither sorrow nor dejection.

A P'i-pa Tune in an Alley at Midnight

2010-08-18T19:47:00.000-07:00

Again waking me up from a dream, a tune of p'i-pa in the
          still of the night!
     Whose sorrowful thought,
     And whose fingers,
Like a gust of chilly wind, a spell of depressing rain, and a
          shower of falling petals,
     So late at night.
     In so drowsy a world,
Are strumming of taut chords to send forth these
          disturbing notes
     To blend into the night in the deserted street,
     While a waning moon hangs on top of the willow tree?
An, the silver of a moon, a shattered hope, and he, he ...
     Wearing a tattered cap,
     With clanking chains on his back,
Laughs and dances on the path of time like a mad soul
     That's all, he says, blow out our lamp,
     She is waiting for you beyond her grave,
Waiting for you to kiss her, to kiss her again, and again

The Joy of the Snowflake

2010-08-18T19:34:00.000-07:00

If I were a snowflake,
Drifting freely in the sky
     I'd make sure of my direction --
     To fly, and fly, and fly --
There is a direction for me on earth.

I won't go to the lonely sequestered vale,
I won't go to the foothill so quiet and cool,
     Nor shall I loiter sadly in a deserted street --
     I'll just fly, and fly, and fly --
You see, I have my direction.

Gracefully I shall dance in the sky
Until I've spotted that pleasant place,
     Until she comes out to see the garden --
     I'll fly, and fly, and fly --
Ah, ther is a subtle scent of the plum blossom on her.

Then I'll count on my body being so light
Gently I'll cling to the lapel of her robe,
   I'll cling close to the soft waves of her bosom --
     To melt away, and melt away, and melt away --
Melt into the soft waves of her bosom.


,

Flower Dance (of Bingo Provice)

2010-08-10T20:19:00.000-07:00

If you want to meet me, love,

Only we twain,
Come to the gate, love,
Sunshine or rain;
And if people pry
Say that you came, love,
To watch who went by.

If you want to meet me, love,
Only you and I,
Come to the pine-tree, love
Clouds or clear sky;
Stand among the spikelets, love,
And if folks ask why,
Say that you came, love,
To catch a butterfly.

An Irish Blessing

2010-08-10T20:13:00.000-07:00

May love and laughter light your days,
     and warm your heart and home.
May good and faithful friends be yours,
     wherever you may roam.
May peace and plenty bless your world
     with joy that long endures.
May all life's passing seasons
     bring the best to you and yours!

--An Irish Blessing

Aztec Wedding Poem

2010-08-08T07:56:00.005-07:00

I know not whether thou has been absent:
I lie down with thee, I rise up with thee,
in my dreams thou art with me.
If my eardrops tremble in my ears,
I know it is thou moving within my heart.

Chippewa Indian Poem of Betrothal

2010-08-08T07:56:00.003-07:00

Oh, I am thinking
Oh, I am thinking
I have found my lover.
Oh, I think it is so.

Shoshone Indian Poem

2010-08-08T07:56:00.001-07:00

Fair is the white star of twilight, and the sky clearer at the day’s end; but she is fairer, and she is dearer, She, my heart’s friend.

Fair is the white star of twilight, and the moon roving to the sky’s end; but she is fairer, better worth loving, She, my heart’s friend.

Apache Indian Prayer

2010-08-08T07:55:00.002-07:00

Now we feel no rain,
for each of us will be shelter to the other.
Now we will feel no cold,
for each of us will be warmth to the other.
Now there is no loneliness for us.
Now we are two bodies,
but only one life.
We go now to our dwelling place,
to enter into the days of our togetherness.
May our days be good and long upon this earth.