I need a great, unique wedding reading

[The Other Jeffrey Lebowski]

I'm going to be presiding over a wedding in January an I would greatly appreciate recommendations for a reading. There are some parameters that limit the scope of my search for the appropriate passage. This is to be a non-religious ceremony (I'm in the midst of getting ordination through Universal Life Church), though there will be the glass breaking at the end of the ceremony.
The wedding ceremony will be fairly short, so I'm looking for something that's not too long, perhaps a minute or two to recite. I've been searching the interweb for suggestions and have not had a great deal of success - Khalil Gibran is too heavy and Dr Seuss is too light.
They're in their 30's and both have artistic sensibilities and taste, and though they both have plenty of cynicism, they also have a great deal of love for each other.
If more info is needed, more details about the couple, that could help, please ask away.
Thanks.

[Nava]

Sorry, what's that glass breaking thing? A google for "glass breaking wedding" says it's from Jewish weddings, but I can't access any of the first five links from work.

Is there any specific kind of literature they both like? Would song lyrics read as a poem work? If this was in Spanish I'd be looking at some Bécquer to start with... he's from the Romantic period. Who would be a good resource for poetic (but not necessarily verse) fragments about love in English, from that same period? The only name I can come up with is Byron, me not study English Lit, sorry.

[sandra_nz]

Our reading was I Wanna Be Yours by John Cooper Clarke. I'm guessing I'm not allowed to post the words here, so I'll do a link instead: http://www.cyberspike.com/clarke/yours.html

[The Other Jeffrey Lebowski]

Originally Posted by Nava

Sorry, what's that glass breaking thing? A google for "glass breaking wedding" says it's from Jewish weddings

Yes, it is from Jewish weddings. A wine glass (doesn't have to be, but it's most often used) is wrapped in a cloth, and after the bride and groom are pronounced husband and wife and kiss, the stomp on the glass together. As far as the meaning, it is interpreted differently. Here are some meanings:

Temple: Breaking of the Jewish wedding glass is a reminder of the destruction of the Temples in Jerusalem.

Superstitious: A loud noise is thought to drive away evil spirits.

Sadness/Joy: A reminder that even in times of great joy that there is sadness. That life will bring sadness as well as joy.

Hymen: A breaking of the glass represents symbolically the breaking of the hymen, and the consummation of the marriage.

Fragile: The glass symbolizes the love and relationship of the couple and is fragile, so it must be cared for and not broken.

Broken World: A reminder that although the couple came together as a single union, the world as a whole is broken and needs mending.

Marriage is Forever: A broken Jewish wedding glass is forever changed, likewise, the couple are forever changed by the marriage and take on a new form.

Be Fruitful: A hope that your happiness will be as plentiful as the shards of glass…or that your children will be as plentiful as the shards of glass.

[The Other Jeffrey Lebowski]

Thanks, sandra_nz!!

[Drain Bead]

Ogden Nash's Tin Wedding Whistle

Tin Wedding Whistle:
Though you know it anyhow
Listen to me, darling, now,

Proving what I need not prove
How I know I love you, love.

Near and far, near and far,
I am happy where you are;

Likewise I have never larnt
How to be it where you aren't.

Far and wide, far and wide,
I can walk with you beside;

Furthermore, I tell you what,
I sit and sulk where you are not.

Visitors remark my frown
Where you're upstairs and I am down,

Yes, and I'm afraid I pout
When I'm indoors and you are out;

But how contentedly I view
Any room containing you.

In fact I care not where you be,
Just as long as it's with me.

In all your absences I glimpse
Fire and flood and trolls and imps.

Is your train a minute slothful?
I goad the stationmaster wrothful.

When with friends to bridge you drive
I never know if you're alive,

And when you linger late in shops
I long to telephone the cops.

Yet how worth the waiting for,
To see you coming through the door.

Somehow, I can be complacent
Never but with you adjacent.

Near and far, near and far,
I am happy where you are;

Likewise I have never larnt
How to be it where you aren't.

Then grudge me not my fond endeavor,
To hold you in my sight forever;

Let none, not even you, disparage
Such valid reason for a marriage.

[Northern Piper]

We had one of Feste's songs from Twelfth Night on our wedding program:

O mistress mine, where are you roaming?
O, stay and hear; your true love's coming,
That can sing both high and low:
Trip no further, pretty sweeting;
Journeys end in lovers meeting,
Every wise man's son doth know.

[Hello Again]

I've always favored
"Falling in Love is Like Owning a Dog" by Taylor Mali

[Northern Piper]

On a more modern note, you could check out "Sex Lives of Vegetables" by Lorna Crozier, a Canadian poet. It's a collection of 17 short poems about vegetables and love. Here's Onions, a meditation on self-love, and Cucumbers. The top-rated poem in the collection, however, is "Carrots" (can't find it on-line), which begins:

"Carrots are fucking the earth..."

Curiously, both our maid of honour and our best man independently found that one...

[E. Thorp]

Originally Posted by Drain Bead

Ogden Nash's Tin Wedding Whistle

This was read at my wedding. It went over great.

[The Other Jeffrey Lebowski]

Thank you for the suggestion Drain Bead - I've submitted it for approval.
Much appreciated for the ode, Northern Piper and for making me aware of Lorna Crozier - those are brilliant.
I really like that Taylor Mali poem, thanks for the mention, Hello Again.

[CrazyCatLady]

We had part of an old Erma Bombeck Valentine's Day column that I really love. It's one of those "Love Is" lists, about the little everyday expressions of love and caring rather than sentimental or romantic gestures. Stuff like "Love is never going on a diet when you're fat," or "Love is being mad at the kids at the same time you're mad at them." "Love is moving the car seat all the way up when I get out so you won't have to move it when you get in."

[The Weird One]

Originally Posted by Drain Bead

Ogden Nash's Tin Wedding Whistle

I'm also looking for non-religious wedding readings, and I've always loved Ogden Nash. I think that poem will probably make it into the ceremony. Thanks!

[Northern Piper]

Here's another one, about the hopes (and risks!) that go into marriage, from Yeats: He Wishes for the Cloths of Heaven. Since it may still be in copyright, I'll only quote the last few lines:

Originally Posted by W.B. Yeats

But I, being poor, have only my dreams;
I have spread my dreams under your feet;
Tread softly because you tread on my dreams.

[prettydorky]

I have always loved the EE Cummings' poem, "I Carry Your Heart". I don't know about unique as I think it's been used often for weddings, but I think it's beautiful. Here's a link:

http://www.americanpoems.com/poets/eecummings/11913

[jsgoddess]

Originally Posted by prettydorky

I have always loved the EE Cummings' poem, "I Carry Your Heart". I don't know about unique as I think it's been used often for weddings, but I think it's beautiful. Here's a link:

http://www.americanpoems.com/poets/eecummings/11913

That's one of my favorite poems. Another of my favorites is the brilliant Edna St. Vincent Millay's "Love Is Not All."

http://famouspoetsandpoems.com/poets...ay/poems/20136

[Napier]

You could try the introduction to "Generation of Swine" by Hunter S. Thompson. It's one of the most amazing pieces of writing I've ever seen, and would certainly cover the uniqueness requirement. Whether it is great for a wedding remains to be seen.

[Ranchoth]

A.E. Housman's probably a little too much, isn't he?

[Darth Sensitive]

Yeats "He Wishes for the Cloths of Heaven"


...
I have spread my dreams under your feet;
Tread softly because you tread on my dreams.

[Northern Piper]

psst - see post 14.

[Avarie537]

Roy Croft ... not unique, but wonderful none the less

I love you
Not only for what you are
But for what I am
When I am with you.

http://thinkexist.com/quotation/i-lo...t/1602010.html

Also Anne Bradstreet

If ever two were one, then surely we.
If ever man were loved by wife, then thee;
If ever wife was happy in a man,
Compare with me, ye women, if you can.

http://library.thinkquest.org/CR0215...Bradstreet.htm

[Quercus]

Well, if you're feeling that 'husband' and 'wife' are kind of narrow baggage-laden definitions of how two people can be together, here's Jonathan Richman on it:

When I say 'wife'
it's cause I can't find another word
for the way we be
but 'wife' sounds like you're mortgaged
'wife' sounds like laundry
....
When I say 'wife'
it's cause if you said 'lover' every day
you're gonna begin to gag
...
[Full lyrics at http://homepage.mac.com/ramonrempel/...isaywife.html]

Or, similarly but more seriously,
"Why Get Married At All" by Marge Piercy from her collection "My Mother's Body".
Can't find it on line, unfortunately, but similar.