Wedding Prayer by Robert Louis Stevenson

Photo by Laura Pennace

(Lord), Behold our families here assembled.
We thank you for this place in which we dwell,
For the love that unites us,
For the peace accorded us this day,
For the hope with which we expect the morrow,
For the health, the work, the food,
And the bright skies that make our lives delightful;
for our friends in all parts of the earth.
Amen.

A Reading by Robert Louis Stevenson

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