I’m reading at a friend of mine’s wedding next month. I may or may not be reading in tandem with a female friend, we haven’t decided.
The bride, a longtime friend, is not religious (though not rabidly anti-religious) and while very much a girly girl in some ways is not at all fru-fru (huge sports fan, very much a “guy’s gal”) so she doesn’t want anything really super sweet or super religious, but at the same time something traditional.
I’ve run several things by her from Browning and a couple of Shakespearean sonnets, even a few passages from Twain’s Diaries of Adam & Eve (which I liked a lot but she didn’t like as well).
To be frank I’ve never really been what you’d call a particularly romantic person or even, just to be embarrassingly blunt, a particular fan of poetry. Can anyone recommend something you’ve heard or think would sound good at a wedding that’s about joining/commitment/love/the usual suspects, but at the same time isn’t terribly syrupy or cliche? (Bible passages are fine so long as they aren’t too… Jesus-ey;), if you know what I mean.)
i carry your heart with me(i carry it in
my heart)i am never without it(anywhere
i go you go,my dear; and whatever is done
by only me is your doing,my darling)
i fear
no fate(for you are my fate,my sweet)i want
no world(for beautiful you are my world,my true)
and it’s you are whatever a moon has always meant
and whatever a sun will always sing is you
here is the deepest secret nobody knows
(here is the root of the root and the bud of the bud
and the sky of the sky of a tree called life;which grows
higher than the soul can hope or mind can hide)
and this is the wonder that’s keeping the stars apart
If she likes children’s books – and she doesn’t sound like she’s necessarily that kind of girl – there’s a sweet passage from Frog And Toad Are Friends. My copy of F&T is packed, but a librarian might be able to find it.
Which reminds me of Tom Lehrer’s song I Hold Your Hand in Mine Dear
*
I hold your hand in mine, dear,
I press it to my lips.
I take a healthy bite
From your dainty fingertips.
My joy would be complete, dear,
If you were only here,
But still I keep your hand
As a precious souvenir.*
There’s a Faith Hill song that I think is titled “I’ll Take a Part of You with Me” and when I hear it, I’m reminded that I know too much about serial killers.
I’ve always liked the good old-fashioned wedding stuff, you know, “Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always preserves.”
It’s you I like,
It’s not the things you wear,
It’s not the way you do your hair–
But it’s you I like
The way you are right now,
The way down deep inside you–
Not the things that hide you,
Not your toys–
They’re just beside you.
But it’s you I like–
Every part of you,
Your skin, your eyes, your feelings
Whether old or new.
I hope that you’ll remember
Even when you’re feeling blue
That it’s you I like,
It’s you yourself,
It’s you, it’s you I like.
