The 2 poems read at my wedding:

[rbnyc]

The Language

Locate I
love you some-
where in

teeth and
eyes, bite
it but

take care not
to hurt, you
want so

much so
little. Words
say everything.

I
love you
again,

then what
is emptiness
for. To
fill, fill.
I heard words
and words full
of holes
aching. Speech
is a mouth.

Robert Creely

***

Moving Forward

The deep parts of my life pour onward,
as if the river shores were opening out.
It seems that things are more like me now,
That I can see farther into paintings.
I feel closer to what language can't reach.
With my senses, as with birds, I climb
into the windy heaven, out of the oak,
in the ponds broken off from the sky
my falling sinks, as if standing on fishes.

Rainer Maria Rilke

***

What was read at your wedding? Or, what poetry do you remember from a wedding or commitment ceremony that moved you?

[WritingIsMyReligion]

1. Never had a wedding.

Me being all of a high schooler, you see. :D :D I've been at weddings, sure, but only, like, two, and one was when I was about three. The other wedding, which was in 2003, I don't remember having any poetry/whatever read at. There probably was, of course, but I can't think of it. :D :D

But those are cool poems! My mom's a fan of Rainer Maria Rilke. Good choices!

[rbnyc]

4. Thanks.

They are 2 of my favorites.

[tjdee]

2. Not married, but I suggested this Gibran piece to a friend. Love it.

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.

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.

[rbnyc]

5. Nice (nt)

[WritingIsMyReligion]

10. That's cool, tjdee.

:D

[GOPisEvil]

3. I did a reading from The Buddha at my friends' wedding.

I don't remember its title or anything, unfortunately, but it was very nice. The other reading was a Sylvia Plath poem. ;)

[rbnyc]

6. Interesting

That's pretty bold to choose Plath to start a new phase of one's life.

[GOPisEvil]

7. Apparently they caught Sylvia on a good day.

It really was a beautiful poem.

[WritingIsMyReligion]

11. I like Plath's "Mirror," or "The Mirror," or however it's called.

Well, it's really the only poem of hers I've read, so....

;)

[fudge stripe cookays]

8. I had a little fun.

One was serious-- Leo Buscaglia from "Born for Love", and the other was a sarcastic, fun one from "Couplehood" by Paul Reiser.

:-)

[rbnyc]

9. I love Leo Buscaglia.

I haven't thought about him in a long time.

:)