Nothing set the mood at a wedding ceremony better than a poem. Couples should choose a poem that represents them, what they feel about marriage, or a sentiment they share. There are many poems on the web at several links and a few favorites listed below.
A Marriage
By Michael Blumenthal
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 flowing back
to your fingers and arms.
And when your 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.
The fountains mingle with the river, and the rivers with the ocean; The winds of heaven mix forever, with the sweet emotion; Nothing in the world is single; all things by a law divine in one another's being mingle. Why not I with thing? All love is sweet. Given or returned. Common as light is love. And its familiar voice wearies not ever. They who inspire it most are fortunate, As I am now but those who feel it most are happier still But to see her was to love her, love but her, and love her forever Robert Burns Come when my heart is full of grief, Or when my heart is merry; Come with the falling of the leaf, or with the reddening cherry Paul Laurence Dunbar Look not in my eyes, for fear A. E. Housman Thou wert my joy in every spot, My theme in every song, And when I saw a stranger face Where beauty held the claim, I gave it like a secret grace The being of thy name. And all the charms of a face or voice Which I in others see Are but the recollected choice Of what I felt for thee John Clare What love is, if though wouldst be taught, Thy heart must teach along-, two souls with but a single thought, Two hearts that beat as one Friedrich Halm Just because I love you- That's reason why. My heart's a fluttering aspen leaf, When you pass by. Langston Hughes O my luve's like a red, red rose. That's newly sprung in June; O my luve's like a melodie That's sweetly play'd in tune. As fair art thou, my bonnie lass, So deep in luve am I; And I will love thee still, my Dear, Till a' the seas gang dry. Till a' the seas gang dry, my Dear, and the rocks melt wi' th the sun: I will luve thee still, my Dear, While the sands o' life shall run. And fare thee weel my only Luve! And fare thee weel a while! And I will come gain, my Luve, Tho' it were ten thousand mile! Robert Burns Fame, wealth, and honor! What are you to Love? Alexander Pope Joshua Sylvester We cannot kindle when we will Our state cannot be severed, we are one, one flesh; to lose thee were to lose myself So shall a friendship fill each heart, with perfume sweet as roses are, That even though we be apart, We'll scent the fragrance from afar. Georgia McCoy If a thing loves, it is infinite Kisses are better fate than wisdom That old miracle-Love at first sight- Needs no explanations. The heart reads aright Its destiny sometimes. Owen Meredith They sin who tell us love can die; With life all other passions fly, All others are but vanity. I do not know what it is about you that closes and opens; Only something n me understands the voice of your eyes is deeper than all roses. E. E. Cummings There is not a breathing of the common wind that will forget thee The more of my poor heart you take, The larger grows my heart! And, since some target I must show for cupids cruel dart, Oh, if mine own you deign to keep, Then give me your sweet heat! Edmond Rostand O, thou art fairer than the evening air clad in the beauty of a thousand stars Christopher Marlowe Love! the surviving gift of Heaven, The choicest sweet of Paradise, In life's else bitter cup distilled Thomas Campbell Long after moments of closeness have passed, a part of you remains with me. And warms the places your hands have touched and hastens my heart for your return Robert Sexton Listen, I will be honest with you Walt Whitman Living the Good Life Reverend William Henry Channing
They mirror true the sight I see, And there you find your face too clear, And love it and be lost like me
The fire which in the heart resides;
The spirit bloweth and is still,
In mystery our soul abides.
I do not offer the old smooth prizes
But offer rough new prizes
These are the days that must happen to you:
You shall not heap up what is called riches,
You shall scatter with lavish hand all that you earn or achieve.
However sweet the laid up stores,
However convenient the dwelling, you shall not remain there.
However sheltered the port, however calm the waters, you shall not anchor there.
However welcome the hospitality that welcomes you,
You are permitted to receive it but a little while Afoot and lighthearted, take to the open road
Healthy, free, the world before you the long brown path before you, leading wherever you choose.
Say only to one another:
Camerado, I give you my hand!
I give you my love more precious than money; I give you myself before preaching and law:
Will you give me yourself?
Will you come travel with me?
Shall we stick by each other as long as we live?
To live content with small means, to seek elegance rather than luxury, and refinement rather than fashion; to be worthy not respectable, and wealthy not rich; to study hard, think quietly, talk gently, act frankly; to listen to the stars and the birds, to babes and sages with open heart; to hear all cheerfully, do all bravely, await occasions, hurry never; in a word, to let the spiritual, unbidden and unconscious grow up through the common.
wonder, by my troth, what thou and I did till we lov'd
Love, all alike, no season knows, nor clime, Nor hours, days, months, which are the rage of time
Twice or thrice had I loved thee, Before I knew thy face or name; So in a shapeless flame angels affect us oft, and worshipped be; Still when to where thou wert, I came. Some lovely glorious nothing I did see, But since my soul, whose child love is, Takes limbs of flesh, and else could nothing do, More subtle than the parent is Love must not be, but take a body too; And therefore what thou wert, and who, I bid Love ask, and now. That it assume thy body, I allow, and fix itself in the lip, eye , and brow
Love's mysteries in soul's do grow. But yet the body is his book
My face in thine eyes, 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.
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