Wedding poem suggestions?

Matt Q · #1 03-31-2016, 02:14 PM

I’m looking for a poem that I could read at the wedding of my sister and her girlfriend. So that's a poem about marriage, love, commitment etc. that’s not exclusively heterosexual, can be read by a third-party (i.e. me) – so probably not poems that directly address the beloved. Also, it can't be religious (this is a legal requirement of a registry office wedding, apparently)

Any suggestions would be welcome.

Many thanks,

Matt

Mary Meriam · #2 03-31-2016, 02:56 PM

never mind

Erik Olson · #3 03-31-2016, 02:57 PM

Is it alright if it is this short?

We by Nayyirah Waheed

We
return to each other in waves.
this is how water
loves.

This might have the right perspective

This Marriage by Rumi

May these vows and this marriage be blessed.
May it be sweet milk,
this marriage, like wine and halvah.
May this marriage offer fruit and shade
like the date palm.
May this marriage be full of laughter,
our every day a day in paradise.
May this marriage be a sign of compassion,
a seal of happiness here and hereafter.
May this marriage have a fair face and a good name,
an omen as welcomes the moon in a clear blue sky.
I am out of words to describe
how spirit mingles in this marriage.

Sonnet 116: Let me not to the marriage of true minds by Shakespeare

Let me not to the marriage of true minds
Admit impediments. Love is not love
Which alters when it alteration finds,
Or bends with the remover to remove.
O no! it is an ever-fixed mark
That looks on tempests and is never shaken;
It is the star to every wand'ring bark,
Whose worth's unknown, although his height be taken.
Love's not Time's fool, though rosy lips and cheeks
Within his bending sickle's compass come;
Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks,
But bears it out even to the edge of doom.
If this be error and upon me prov'd,
I never writ, nor no man ever lov'd.

Roger Slater · #4 03-31-2016, 03:08 PM

Of course there's this:

Wedding Toast

St. John tells how, at Cana's wedding feast,
The water-pots poured wine in such amount
That by his sober count
There were a hundred gallons at the least.

It made no earthly sense, unless to show
How whatsoever love elects to bless
Brims to a sweet excess
That can without depletion overflow.

Which is to say that what love sees is true;
That this world's fullness is not made but found.
Life hungers to abound
And pour its plenty out for such as you.

Now, if your loves will lend an ear to mine,
I toast you both, good son and dear new daughter.
May you not lack for water,
And may that water smack of Cana's wine.

Richard Wilbur

Julie Steiner · #5 03-31-2016, 03:32 PM

Here's my suggestion, Matt: write one. Even if it's pedestrian, sentimental garbage, they'll love it, because it will be pedestrian, sentimental garbage from you. Everyone's allowed to be a really mediocre poet on special occasions, as long as you keep it brief. (If you go on for too long, you'll never be forgiven.)

[Edited to say:]

By the way, let's all remember Matt's criteria:

1.) About marriage, love, commitment, etc.
2.) Not exclusively heterosexual
3.) Could be read by a third party, so probably not poems that directly address the beloved
4.) Not religious

I'd suggest Vienna Teng's song "City Hall", but it flunks Requirement #3. (And isn't as good without the music. And is pretty California-specific. Here's a radio clip of her talking about why she wrote the song.)

[Edited again to say:]

Here are some picks from the Poetry Foundation's website. (Most of which made me say, "Huh?")

In short--nuthin'. I've got nuthin' for you, Matt. Back to Plan A--write your own.

Roger Slater · #6 03-31-2016, 04:15 PM

By the time you swear you're his,
Shivering and sighing.
And he vows his passion is,
Infinite, undying.
Lady make note of this --
One of you is lying.

― Dorothy Parker

Erik Olson · #7 03-31-2016, 07:24 PM

Wedding (1996) by Alice Oswald

From time to time our love is like a sail
and when the sail begins to alternate
from tack to tack, it’s like a swallowtail
and when the swallow flies it’s like a coat;
and if the coat is yours, it has a tear
like a wide mouth and when the mouth begins
to draw the wind, it’s like a trumpeter
and when the trumpet blows, it blows like millions…
and this, my love, when millions come and go
beyond the need of us, is like a trick;
and when the trick begins, it’s like a toe
tip-toeing on a rope, which is like luck;
and when the luck begins, it’s like a wedding,
which is like love, which is like everything.

The Master Speed by Robert Frost

No speed of wind or water rushing by
But you have speed far greater. You can climb
Back up a stream of radiance to the sky,
And back through history up the stream of time.
And you were given this swiftness, not for haste
Nor chiefly that you may go where you will,
But in the rush of everything to waste,
That you may have the power of standing still-
Off any still or moving thing you say.
Two such as you with such a master speed
Cannot be parted nor be swept away
From one another once you are agreed
That life is only life forevermore
Together wing to wing and oar to oar.