Letture matrimonio in inglese

Mettiamo questo archivio di letture suggerite a disposizione, esclusivamente come supporto allo sviluppo delle vostre cerimonie. Riconosciamo esplicitamente la proprietà intellettuale degli autori di ciascuno dei singoli brani, e vi invitiamo a fare altrettanto.

WEDDING READINGS

Reading 1                from “Marriage and Morals” – Bertrand Russel

It is therefore possible for a civilized man and woman to be happy in marriage, although if this is to be a case a number of conditions must be fulfilled. There must be a feeling of complete equality on both sides; there must be no interference with mutual freedom; there must be the most complete physical intimacy; and there must be a certain similarity in regard to standards of values. Given all these conditions, I believe marriage to be the best and most important relation that can exist between two human beings.

If it has not often been realised hitherto, that is chiefly because husbands and wives have regarded themselves as each other’s policemen. If marriage is to achieve its possibilities, husband and wife must learn to understand that, whatever the law may say, in their private lives they must be free.

Reading 2        Eliot’s “A Dedication to My Wife”

To whom I owe the leaping delight

That quicken my senses in our wakingtime

And the rhythm that governs the repose of our sleepingtime,

The breathing in unison

Of lovers whose bodies smell of each other

Who think the same thoughts without need of speech        

And babble the same speech without need of meaning…

No peevish winter wind shall chill

No sullen tropic sun shall wither

The roses in the rose garden which is ours and ours only

But this dedication is for others to read:

These are private words addressed to you in public.

Reading 3        Paul Kurtz

A successful marriage is one where each partner discovers that it is better to give love than to receive it. To truly love another person is to wish that person to develop and flourish in his or her own terms.

In a long marriage there will be joy and laughter; but also sadness and sorrow, harmony and discord, as you strive to overcome adversity and fulfil your dreams.

The key value of wedlock is that it allows for intimacy between a woman and a man, who can enjoy each other’s company, share ideals and expectations, confess failures and admit defeats to each other; and yet realise in union the qualities of the good life.

As you build your home, embark upon careers, and raise a family, your marriage can become a work of art in which both of you together give it line and form, color and tone. You will be challenged every day and in every way to make your marriage work. If you do, it can become a thing of beauty, a joint creation of aesthetic splendour and enduring value.

Reading 4        You Are part of me – Frank Yerby

You are a part of me. I do not know

by what slow chemistry you first became

A vital fibre of my being.

Go Beyond the rim of time or space, the same

Inflections of your voice will sing their way

Into the depths of my mind still. Your hair

Will gleam as bright, the artless play        

Of word and glance, gesture and the fair

Young fingers waving, have too deeply etched

The pattern of your soul on mine. Forget

Me quickly as a laughing picture sketched

On water, I shall never know regret

Knowing no magic ever can set free

That part of you that is a part of me.

Reading 5        Rabindranath Tagore

It is for the union of you and me

that there is light in the sky.

It is for the union of you and me

that the earth is decked in dusky green.

It is for the union of you and me

that the night sits motionless with the world in her arms;

Dawn appears opening the eastern door

with sweet murmurs in her voice.         

The boat of hope sails along the currents

of eternity toward that union;

Flowers of the ages are being gathered together

for its welcoming ritual.

It is for the union of you and me

that this heart of mine, in the garb of a bride,

Has proceeded from birth to birth upon the surface

of this ever-turning world to choose the beloved.

Reading 6        from “Gift from the Sea” – Anne Morrow Lindbergh

A good relationship has a pattern like a dance and is built on some of the same rules. The partners do not need to hold on tightly, because they move confidently in the same pattern, intricate but gay and swift and free, like a country dance of Mozart's. To touch heavily would be to arrest the pattern and freeze the movement, to check the endlessly changing beauty of its unfolding. There is no place here for the possessive clutch, the clinging arm, the heavy hand, only the barest touch in passing. Now arm in arm, now face to face, now back to back — it does not matter which because they know they are partners moving to the same rhythm, creating a pattern together, and being invisibly nourished by it. The joy of such a pattern is…the joy of living in the moment. Lightness of touch and living in the moment are intertwined.

Reading 7        Celtic benediction, or “well-wishing”

The peace of the running water to you

The peace of the flowing air to you

The peace of the quiet earth to you        

The peace of the shining stars to you

and the love and the care of us all to you.

Reading 8        Scaffolding – Seamus Heaney

Masons, when they start upon a building,

Are careful to test out the scaffolding;

Make sure that planks won’t slip at busy points,

Secure all ladders, tighten bolted joints.

And yet all this comes down when the job’s done        

Showing off walls of sure and solid stone.

So if, my dear, there sometimes seem to be

Old bridges breaking between you and me

Never fear. We may let the scaffolds fall

Confident that we have built our wall.

Reading 9        Ancient Sanskrit poem

Look to this day

for it is life

the very life of life.

In its brief course lie all

the realities and truths of existence

the joy of growth

the splendor of action        the glory of power.

For yesterday is but a memory

And tomorrow is only a vision.

But today well lived

makes every yesterday a memory of happiness

and every tomorrow a vision of hope.

Look well, therefore, to this day.

Reading 10        Love’s Tranquillity – Sir Philip Sidney

My true-love hath my heart and I have his,

By just exchange one for the other given:

I hold his dear, and mine he cannot miss;

There never was a bargain better driven.

My true-love hath my heart and I have his,        

His heart in me keeps me and him in one;

My heart in him his thoughts and senses guides:

He loves my heart, for once it was his own;

I cherish his because in me it bides.

My true love hath my heart and I have his.

Reading 11        adapted form part of the Jewish wedding ceremony

At the quietness of this time,

And in this place, may we

All think for a moment of

Sue and Terry.

They have a new beginning,

With its hopes

And love with its dreams –

May these come true.        With their faith in each other

Let them be devoted to each other.

May the warmth of their love

In the kindness of their home

Allow them to be charitable to others.

As the years go by, may they learn

How great is the joy that comes from sharing,

And how deep the love that grows from giving.

Reading 12        Percy Bysshe Shelley

ONE word is too often profaned

For me to profane it,

One feeling too falsely disdained

For thee to disdain it.

One hope is too like despair

For prudence to smother,

And pity from thee more dear

Than that from another.        

I can give not what men call love;

But wilt thou accept not

The worship the heart lifts above

And the heavens reject not:

The desire of the moth for the star,

Of the night for the morrow,

The devotion to something afar

From the sphere of our sorrow?

Reading 13        To My Dear and Loving Husband – 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.

I prize thy love more than whole mines of        gold,

Or all the riches that the East doth hold.

My love is such that rivers cannot quench,

Nor ought but love from thee give recompense.

Reading 14        Adapted from Erasmus “On Marriage”

What more sweet than to live with one with whom you are united in body and mind, who talks with you in secret affection, to whom you have committed all your faith and your fortune? What in all nature is lovelier? You are bound to friends in affection. How much more to a husband or wife in the highest love, with union of the body, the bond of mutual vows and the sharing of your goods!…. Nothing is more safe, tranquil, pleasant and lovable than marriage.

Reading 15        Sonnet XVII – Paolo Neruda”

I do not love you as if you were salt-rose, or topaz,

or the arrow of carnations the fire shoots off.

I love you as certain dark things are to be loved,

in secret, between the shadow and the soul.

I love you as the plant that never blooms

but carries in itself the light of hidden flowers;

thanks to your love a certain solid fragrance,

risen from the earth, lives darkly in my body.        

I love you without knowing how, or when, or from where.

I love you straightforwardly, without complexities or pride;

so I love you because I know no other way

than this: where I does not exist, nor you,

so close that your hand on my chest is my hand,

so close that your eyes close as I fall asleep.

Reading 16        Apache Blessing 1

May the sun bring you new energies by day,

may the moon softly restore you by night,

may the rain wash away your worries you may have,        

and the breeze blow new strength into your being,

and then all the days of your life,

may you walk gently through the world

and know its beauty.

Reading 17        Apache Blessing 2

Now you will feel no rain,

for each of you will be shelter for the other.

Now you will feel no cold,

for each of you will be warmth to the other.

Now there will be no loneliness,         

Now you are two persons,

but there is only one life before you.

Go now to your dwelling

To enter into your life together;

And may your days be good and long upon the earth.

Reading 78        Desiderata by Max Ehrmann

Go placidly amid the noise and the haste, and remember what peace there may be in silence. As far as possible, without surrender, be on good terms with all persons.

Speak your truth quietly and clearly; and listen to others, even to the dull and the ignorant; they too have their story.

Avoid loud and aggressive persons; they are vexatious to the spirit. If you compare yourself with others, you may become vain or bitter, for always there will be greater and lesser persons than yourself.

Enjoy your achievements as well as your plans. Keep interested in your own career, however humble; it is a real possession in the changing fortunes of time.

Exercise caution in your business affairs, for the world is full of trickery. But let this not blind you to what virtue there is; many persons strive for high ideals, and everywhere life is full of heroism.

Be yourself. Especially do not feign affection. Neither be cynical about love; for in the face of all aridity and disenchantment, it is as perennial as the grass.

Take kindly the counsel of the years, gracefully surrendering the things of youth.

Nurture strength of spirit to shield you in sudden misfortune. But do not distress yourself with dark imaginings. Many fears are born of fatigue and loneliness.

Beyond a wholesome discipline, be gentle with yourself. You are a child of the universe no less than the trees and the stars; you have a right to be here.

And whether or not it is clear to you, no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should. Therefore be at peace with God, whatever you conceive Him to be. And whatever your labors and aspirations, in the noisy confusion of life, keep peace in your soul. With all its sham, drudgery and broken dreams, it is still a beautiful world. Be cheerful. Strive to be happy.

Reading 19        from “Memoirs of Childhood and Youth”- Albert Schweitzer

We are each a secret to the other. To know one another cannot mean to know everything about each other; it means to feel mutual affection and confidence, and to believe in one another. We must not try to force our way into the personality of another. To analyse others is a rude commencement, for there is a modesty of the soul which we must recognise just as we do that of the body. No one has a right to say to another: “Because we belong to each other as we do, I have a right to know all your thoughts”. Not even a mother may treat her child in that way. All demands of this ort are foolish and unwholesome. In this matter giving is the only valuable process; it is only giving that stimulates. Impart as much as you can of your spiritual being to those who are on the road with you, and accept as something precious what comes back to you from them.

Reading 20        Honey-Bee – Anatole France

It is not enough to love passionately; you must also love well; you must also love well. A passionate love is good doubtless, but a beautiful love is better. May you have as much strength as gentleness; may it lack nothing, not even forbearance, and let even a little compassion be mingled with it.

You are human, and because of this, capable of much suffering. If then something of compassion does not enter into the feelings you have one for the other, these feelings will not always befit all the circumstances of your life together; they will be like festive robes that will not shield you from wind and rain. We love truly only those we love even in their weakness and their poverty. To forbear, to forgive, to console, that alone is the science of love.

Reading 21        William Shakespeare – Sonnet 116

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.

Reading 22        Unknown – ideal after the handfasting

These are the hands of your best friend, young and strong and full of love for you, that are holding yours on your wedding day, as you promise to love each other today, tomorrow and forever.

These are the hands that will work alongside yours, as together you build your future.

These are the hands that will passionately love you and cherish you through the years, and with the slightest touch, will comfort you like no other.

These are the hands that will hold you when fear or grief fills your mind.

These are the hands that will countless times wipe the tears from your eyes; tears of sorrow and tears of joy.

These are the hands that will tenderly hold your children.

These are the hands that will help you to hold your family as one.

These are the hands that will give you strength when you need it.

And lastly, these are the hands that, even when wrinkled and aged, will still be reaching for yours, still giving the you same unspoken tenderness with just a touch.

Reading 23        The Art Of A Good Marriage – Wilferd Arlan Peterson

Happiness in marriage is not something that just happens.

A good marriage must be created. In marriage the little things are the big things.

It is never being too old to hold hands.

It is remembering to say “I love you” at least once a day.

It is never going to sleep angry.

It is at no time taking the other for granted; the courtship should not end with the honeymoon, it should continue through the years.

It is having a mutual sense of values and common objectives.

It is standing together facing the world. It is forming a circle of love that gathers the whole family.

It is doing things for each other, not in the attitude of duty or sacrifice, but in the spirit of joy.

It is speaking words of appreciation and demonstrating gratitude in thoughtful ways.

It is not looking for perfection in each other.

It is cultivating flexibility, patience, understanding and a sense of humour.

It is having the capacity to forgive and forget.

It is giving each other an atmosphere in which each can grow old.

It is a common search for the good and the beautiful.

It is establishing a relationship in which the independence is equal, dependence is mutual and the obligation is reciprocal.

It is not only marrying the right partner; it is being the right partner.

Reading 24        Robert Fulghum

We're all a little weird. And life is a little weird. And when we find someone whose weirdness is compatible with ours, we join up with them and fall into mutually satisfying weirdness – and call it love – true love.

Reading 25        Fidelity –  Dorothy Colgan

Man and woman are like the earth, that brings forth flowers

in summer, and love, but underneath is rock.

Older than flowers, older than ferns, older than foraminiferae,

older than plasm altogether is the soul underneath.

And when, throughout all the wild chaos of love

slowly a gem forms, in the ancient, once-more-molten rocks        

of two human hearts, two ancient rocks,

a man's heart and a woman's,

that is the crystal of peace, the slow hard jewel of trust,

the sapphire of fidelity.

The gem of mutual peace emerging from the wild chaos of love.

Reading 26        Symposium" From Plato's Dialogue

It's obvious that the soul of every lover longs for something else; his soul cannot say what it is, but like an oracle it has a sense of what it wants […] Suppose two lovers are lying together and Hephaestus stands over them with his mending tools, asking […] "Is this your heart's desire, then– for the two of you to be come part of the same whole[?] Then the two of you would share one life, as long as you lived, because you be one being, and by the same token, when you died, you would be one and not two[.] Surely you can see that no one who received such an offer would turn it down; no one would find anything else he wanted. […] Why should this be so? It's because, as I said, we used to be complete wholes in our original nature, and now "love: is the name for our pursuit of wholeness, for our desire to be complete. […] There is just one way for the human race to flourish: we must bring love to its perfect conclusion [to] recover his original nature.

Reading 27        Corinthians 13:4-8

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 perseveres.

Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when perfection comes, the imperfect disappears. When I was a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me. Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.

Reading 28        True love – Wislawa Szimborska

True love. Is it normal,  

is it serious, is it practical?

What does the world get from two people

who exist in a world of their own?

Placed on the same pedestal for no good reason,

drawn randomly from millions but convinced

it had to happen this way – in reward for what?

For nothing.

The light descends from nowhere.

Why on these two and not on others?

Doesn't this outrage justice? Yes it does.

Doesn't it disrupt our painstakingly erected principles,

and cast the moral from the peak? Yes on both accounts.

Look at the happy couple.

Couldn't they at least try to hide it,

fake a little depression for their friends' sake?

Listen to them laughing – it’s an insult.         

The language they use – deceptively clear.

And their little celebrations, rituals,

the elaborate mutual routines –

 it's obviously a plot behind the human race's back!

It's hard even to guess how far things might go

if people start to follow their example.

What could religion and poetry count on?

What would be remembered? What renounced?

Who'd want to stay within bounds?

True love. Is it really necessary?

Tact and common sense tell us to pass over it in silence,

like a scandal in Life's highest circles.

Perfectly good children are born without its help.

It couldn't populate the planet in a million years,

it comes along so rarely.

Let the people who never find true love

keep saying that there's no such thing.

Their faith will make it easier for them to live and die.

Reading 29        Love at first sight – Wislawa Szimborska

They're both convinced

that a sudden passion joined them.

Such certainty is more beautiful,

but uncertainty is more beautiful still.

Since they'd never met before, they're sure

that there'd been nothing between them.

But what's the word from the streets, staircases, hallways–perhaps they've passed by each other a million times?

I want to ask them

if they don't remember—

a moment face to face

in some revolving door?

perhaps a "sorry" muttered in a crowd?

a curt "wrong number"caught in the receiver?—

but I know the answer.

No, they don't remember.

They'd be amazed to hear

that Chance has been toying with them

now for years.

Not quite ready yet

to become their Destiny,        

it pushed them close, drove them apart,

it barred their path,

stifling a laugh,

and then leaped aside.

There were signs and signals,

even if they couldn't read them yet.

Perhaps three years ago

or just last Tuesday

a certain leaf fluttered

from one shoulder to another?

Something was dropped and then picked up.

Who knows, maybe the ball that vanished

into childhood's thicket?

There were doorknobs and doorbells

where one touch had covered another beforehand.

Suitcases checked and standing side by side.

One night. perhaps, the same dream,

grown hazy by morning.

Every beginning

is only a sequel, after all,

and the book of events

is always open halfway through.

Reading 30        Matthew 18:20

Treat yourselves and each other with respect, and remind yourselves often of what brought you together. Give the highest priority to the tenderness, gentleness and kindness that your connection deserves. When frustration, difficulties and fear assail your relationship, as they threaten all relationships at one time or another, remember to focus on what is right between you, not only the part which seems wrong. In this way, you can ride out the storms when clouds hide the face of the sun in your lives — remembering that even if you lose sight of it for a moment, the sun is still there. And if each of you takes responsibility for the quality of your life together, it will be marked by abundance and delight.

Reading 31        Nothing twice – Wislawa Szimborska

Nothing can ever happen twice.

In consequence, the sorry fact is

that we arrive here improvised

and leave without the chance to practice.

Even if there is no one dumber,

if you're the planet's biggest dunce,

you can't repeat the class in summer:

this course is only offered once.

No day copies yesterday,

no two nights will teach what bliss is

in precisely the same way,

with precisely the same kisses.

One day, perhaps some idle tongue

mentions your name by accident:        

I feel as if a rose were flung

into the room, all hue and scent.

The next day, though you're here with me,

I can't help looking at the clock:

A rose? A rose? What could that be?

Is it a flower or a rock?

Why do we treat the fleeting day

with so much needless fear and sorrow?

It's in its nature not to stay:

Today is always gone tomorrow.

With smiles and kisses, we prefer

to seek accord beneath our star,

although we're different (we concur)

just as two drops of water are.

Reading 32        Could have – Wislawa Szimborska

It could have happened.

It had to happen.

It happened earlier. Later.

Nearer. Father off.

It happened, but not to you.

You were saved because you were the first.

You were saved because you were the last.

Alone. With others.

On the right. On the left.

Because it was raining. Because of the shade.

Because the day was sunny.

You were in luck – there was a forest.

You were in luck – there were no trees.        

You were in luck – a rake, a hook, a beam, a brake,

a jamb, a turn, a quarter inch, an instant.

You were in luck – just then a straw went floating by.

As a result, because, although, despite.

What would have happened if a hand, a foot,

within an inch, a hairsbreadth from

an unfortunate coincidence.

So you're here? Still dizzy from another dodge, close shave,

reprieve?

One hole in the net and you slipped through?

I couldn't be more shocked or speechless.

Listen,

how your hear pounds in my heart.

Reading 33        From the 'Les Miserables' – Victor Hugo

The future belongs to hearts even more than it does to minds. Love, that is the only thing that can occupy and fill eternity. In the infinite, the inexhaustible is requisite. Love participates of the soul itself. It is of the same nature. Like it, it is the divine spark; like it, it is incorruptible, indivisible, imperishable. It is a point of fire that exists within us, which is immortal and infinite, which nothing can confine, and which nothing can extinguish. We feel it burning even to the very marrow of our bones, and we see it beaming in the very depths of heaven…What a grand thing it is to be loved! What a far grander thing it is to love! The heart becomes heroic, by dint of passion. It is no longer composed of anything but what is pure; it no longer rests on anything that is not elevated and great. An unworthy thought can no more germinate in it, than a nettle on a glacier. The serene and lofty soul, inaccessible to vulgar passions and emotions, dominating the clouds and the shades of this world, its follies, its lies, its hatreds, its vanities, its miseries, inhabits the blue of heaven, and no longer feels anything but profound and subterranean shocks of destiny, as the crests of mountains feel the shocks of earthquake. If there did not exist some one who loved, the sun would become extinct.”

Reading 34        Terah Cox

May you have the love only two can know.

May you go where only two as one may go.

May the sun rise and set in your bonded hearts and the moon never find you too long apart.

May you cherish each other’s dreams as your own and turn stumbling blocks into stepping stones.        

May you brave life’s mountains and miles together.

May there be no storm your love cannot weather.

May you be lovers and allies and friends.

May your soul’s conversation never end.

May you capture on earth what’s in heaven above.

May your hearts know the rapture of an uncommon love.

Reading 35        Nicholas Gordon

All my happiness goes out to you:

Pride and pleasure, joy, sweet tears, and love!

Reason, hope, and faith together move

In harmony to bless all that you do.

Let this beginning be the golden dawn

At which all dew-drenched nature sings its glory!        

Nor should the darkness shrouding every story

Dim the blue-eyed beauty of this morn.

More of life will come than you can hold:

A flood no mortal witness can withstand.

Rest, then, within a quiet, gentle hand,

Knowing where love is as you grow old.

Reading 36        Thomas Moore

Believe me, if all those endearing young charms,

Which I gaze on so fondly to-day,

Were to change by to-morrow, and fleet in my arms,

Live fairy-gifts fading away,

Thou wouldst still be adored, as this moment thou art,

Let thy loveliness fade as it will,

And around the dear ruin each wish of my heart

Would entwine itself verdantly still.        

It is not while beauty and youth are thine own,

And thy cheeks unprofaned by a tear,

That the fervor and faith of a soul may be known,

To which time will but make thee more dear!

No, the heart that has truly loved never forgets,

But as truly loves on to the close,

As the sunflower turns on her god when he sets

The same look which she turned when he rose!

Reading 37        Unknown

Wildflowers bloom on a mountainside,

As icy waters on their tumbling ride,

Flow in haste to meet the Sea,

On a cycle that will always be.

Cycles, cycles everyplace,

Even in my life, I face        The fact that cycles often race

With no regard to proper pace.

So I was born and grew up fast,

And now I'm free to love at last,

And need ________ to complete the chain

Of the cycle that is in my name.

Reading 38        Unknown

You have become mine forever.

Yes, we have become partners.

I have become yours.

Hereafter, I cannot live without you.

Do not live without me.

Let us share the joys.        We are word and meaning, unite.

You are thought and I am sound.

May the nights be honey-sweet for us.

May the mornings be honey-sweet for us.

May the plants be honey-sweet for us.

May the earth be honey-sweet for us.

Reading 39        Sonnet 43 -Elizabeth Barrett Browning

How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.

I love thee to the depth and breadth and height

My soul can reach, when feeling out of sight

For the ends of Being an Ideal Grace.

I love thee to the level of every day's

Most quiet need, by sun and candle-light.

I love thee freely, as men strive for Right;        

I love thee purely, as they turn from Praise.

I love thee with the passion put to use

In my old grief's, and with my childhood's faith.

I love thee with a love I seemed to lose

With my lost saints,–I love thee with the breath,

Smiles, tears, of all my life!–and, if God choose,

I shall but love thee better after death.

Reading 40        Unknown

When two people are at one

in their inmost hearts,

they shatter even the strength of iron or bronze.

And when two people understand each other        

in their inmost hearts,

their words are sweet and strong,

like the fragrance of orchids.

Reading 41        Dorothy R. Colgan

I promise to give you the best of myself

and to ask of you no more than you can give.

I promise to respect you as your own person

and to realize that your interests, desires and needs

are no less important than my own.

I promise to share with you my time and my attention

and to bring joy, strength and imagination to our relationship.

I promise to keep myself open to you,

to let you see through the window of my world        

into my innermost fears and feelings, secrets and dreams.

I promise to grow along with you,

to be willing to face changes in order to keep

our relationship is alive and exciting.

I promise to love you in good times and bad,

with all I have to give and all I feel inside

in the only way I know how,

completely and forever.

Reading 42        Ann Landers

Love is a friendship that has caught fire.

It is quiet understanding, mutual confidence, sharing and forgiving.

It is loyalty through good and bad.

It settles for less than perfection,

and makes allowances for human weakness.

Love is content with the present.

It hopes for the future and it doesn't brood over the past.        

It's the day-in and day-out chronicle of irritations, problems,

compromises, small disappointments, big victories,

and working toward common goals.

If you have love in your life,

it can make up for a great many things you lack.

If you don't have it, no matter what else there is,

it is not enough, so search for it and share it!

Reading 43        George Herbert

Love bade me welcome; yet my soul drew back,

Guilty of dust and sin.

But quick-eyed Love, observing me grow slack

From my first entrance in,

Drew nearer to me, sweetly questioning,

If I lacked any thing.

“A guest,” I answered, “worthy to be here”:

Love said, “You shall be he.”

“I the unkind, ungrateful? Ah my dear,        

I cannot look on thee.”

Love took my hand, and smiling did reply,

“Who made the eyes but I?”

“Truth, Lord, but I have marred them; let my shame

Go where it doth deserve.”

“And know you not,” says Love, “who bore the blame?”

“My dear, then I will serve.”

“You must sit down,” says Love, “and taste my meat”:

So I did sit and eat.

Reading 44        Jane Wells

Let your love be stronger than your hate and anger.

Learn the wisdom of compromise,

for it is better to bend a little than to break.

Believe the best rather than the worst.

People have a way of living up or down

to your opinion of them.

Remember that true friendship.         

is the basis for any lasting relationship.

The person you choose to marry

is deserving of the courtesies

and kindnesses you bestow on your friends.

Please hand this down to your children and

your children's children

Reading 45        Nicholas Gordon

Marriage is the union of

A greater sum than two in love.

Relatives are made by vows,

Relating endless fields and plows.        

In bringing families together,

A million lives are changed forever.

Go then in joy, yourselves to please:

Each love shapes many destinies.

Reading 46        Edmund O'Neill

Marriage is a commitment to life,

the best that two people can find and bring out in each other.

It offers opportunities for sharing and growth

that no other relationship can equal.

It is a physical and an emotional joining that is promised for a lifetime.

Within the circle of its love,

marriage encompasses all of life's most important relationships.

A wife and a husband are each other's best friend,

confidant, lover, teacher, listener, and critic.

And there may come times when one partner is heartbroken or ailing,

and the love of the other may resemble

the tender caring of a parent or child.        

Marriage deepens and enriches every facet of life.

Happiness is fuller, memories are fresher,

commitment is stronger, even anger is felt more strongly,

and passes away more quickly.

Marriage understands and forgives the mistakes life

is unable to avoid. It encourages and nurtures new life,

new experiences, new ways of expressing

a love that is deeper than life.

When two people pledge their love and care for each other in marriage,

they create a spirit unique unto themselves which binds them closer

than any spoken or written words.

Marriage is a promise, a potential made in the hearts of two people

who love each other and takes a lifetime to fulfill.

Reading 47        Kuan Tao-Sheng

You and I

Have so much love

That it

Burns like a fire,

In which we bake a lump of clay

Molded into a figure of you

And a figure of me.

Then we take both of them,        

And break them into pieces,

And mix the pieces with water,

And mold again a figure of you,

And a figure of me.

I am in your clay.

You are in my clay.

In life we share a single quilt.

In death we will share one bed.

Reading 48        Mary Weston Fordham

The die is cast, come weal, come woe

Two lives are joined together,,

For better or for worse, the link

Which naught but death can sever.        

The die is cast, come grief, come joy.

Come richer, or come poorer,

If love but binds the mystic tie,

Blest is the bridal hour.

Reading 49        Nicholas Gordon

On your wedding day, as you trade vows,

No ordinary moment hurries by.

You partake, as far as time allows,

Of something more than time and Earth and sky:

Unknowable, invisible, yet there;

Resplendent to the heart if not the face;

More than both of you, yet less than air;        

A transcendental act conferring grace.

Reason might say, How can this be true?

Return then to the heart, for this is love.

In making vows, you make one out of two,

A mystery beyond what words can prove.

Go then as one flesh, one home, one heart:

Each still a whole, yet also now a part.

Reading 50        William Penn

Never marry but for love;

but see that thou lovest what is lovely.

He that minds a body and not a soul

has not the better part of that relationship,

and will consequently lack

the noblest comfort of a married life.

Between a man and his wife nothing ought rule but love.

As love ought to bring them together, so it is the best way

to keep them well together.

A husband and wife that love one another

show their children that they should do so too.

Others visibly lose their authority in their families by

their contempt of one another, and teach their children to be        

unnatural by their own examples.

Let not enjoyment lessen, but augment, affection;

it being the basest of passions to like

when we have not, what we slight when we possess.

Here it is we ought to search out our pleasure,

where the field is large and full of variety,

and of an enduring nature; sickness,

poverty or disgrace being not able to

shake it because it is not under

the moving influences of worldly contingencies.

Nothing can be more entire and without reserve;

nothing more zealous, affectionate and sincere;

nothing more contented than such a couple,

nor greater temporal felicity

than to be one of them.

Reading 51        Unknown

We begin our lives with nothing more than love.

So absolutely perfect, that of which is received from above.

Then each of our lives are led down a separate trail.

Learning the meaning of love and knowing only true love will prevail.

We're taught by our family and some of our friends.

In a world where nothing lasts, true love never ends.

So we travel through life searching for that perfect love.        

Where two become one and reality is every dream you've ever dreamt of.

It's a complete blessing to endure a love that is able to grow.

Forming a union where two hearts become one soul.

And now life has led us to a phenomenal moment like this,

Where we witness the perfect love pledged and sealed with a kiss.

Reading 52        John Fletcher

Do not fear to put thy feet

Naked in the river sweet;

Think not leech, or newt, or toad

Will bite thy foot, when thou hast trod:        

Nor let the water rising high

As thou wad’st in, make thee cry

And sob; but ever live with me

And not a wave shall trouble thee.

Reading 53        Nicholas Gordon

Thank you for your friendship and your love.

However life may turn, this gift will be

A mountain that has made my river bend,

Nor will it flow the same way to the sea.        

Knowing you is something I'm made of.

Years will not this part of me remove.

One lives for just a brief eternity,

Understanding truths that never end.

Reading 54        Rochelle Hames

Down the isle with a smile on their face,

him in a tux and her in lace.

Vows said with love and car,

as people watch and stare.

On the pillow is were the rings lay,

the preacher asking what they want to say.        

He says words so pure and true,

All she can get out is an I love you.

He says I do,

She says I do too.

They hold each other thight,

and know this choice was right

Reading 55        Ara John Movsesian

The recipe of love must always include

Some herbs and spices for fortitude;

A tablespoon of forgiveness –

A clove of loyalty –

A cup of faith –

And a sprig of honesty;

A pinch of patience –        A teaspoon of trust –

A cup of friendship –

And a bit of lust;

Mix all these herbs and spices well –

No other recipe could ever excel;

Add ________ and ________ for proper effect;

Then saute the whole in two cups of respect.

Reading 56        Nicholas Gordon

The vows you have just taken, pledging love,

Mean far more than words can ever mean.

May their gentle spirit in you move.

May your years fulfill the beauty of

The feelings whose expression we've just seen,

The vows that you have taken, pledging love.        

And may you always put these vows above

The things that make life smaller and more mean.

May their gentle spirit in you move.

May your children know the power of

These words to shape a world that's sane and clean,

These vows that you have taken, pledging love.

Reading 57        George Eliot

What greater thing is there for two human souls

than to feel that they are joined together to strengthen

each other in all labor, to minister to each other in all sorrow,        

to share with each other in all gladness,

to be one with each other in the

silent unspoken memories?

Reading 58        Navajo Wedding Blessing

Now you have lit a fire and that fire should not go out.

The two of you now have a fire that represents love, understanding and a philosophy of life.

It will give you heat, food, warmth and happiness.        

The new fire represents a new beginning – a new life and a new family.

The fire should keep burning; you should stay together.

You have lit the fire for life, until old age separates you.

Reading 59        A red, red rose – Robert Burns

O My Luve's like a red, red rose,That's newly sprung in June;

O My Luve's like the melodie

That's sweetly played in tune.

As fair art thou, my bonnie lass,

So deep in luve am I;

And I will luve thee still, my dear,

Till a' the seas gang dry.

Till a' the seas gang dry, my dear,        

And the rocks melt wi' the sun:O I will

love thee still, my dear,

While the sands o' life shall run.

And fare thee well, my only luve.

And fare thee well awhile!

And I will come again, my luve,

Though it were ten thousand mile.

Reading 60        Sound of Silence – Raymond J. Baughan

Here in the space between us and the world

lies human meaning.

Into the vast uncertainty we call.

The echoes make our music,

sharp equations which can hold the stars,

and marvellous mythologies we trust.        

This may be all we need

to lift our love against indifference and pain.

Here in the space between us and each other

lies all the future

of the fragment of the universe

which is our own.

Reading 61        Keys of Love – Robert M. Millay

The key to love is understanding… the ability to comprehend not only the spoken word, but those unspoken gestures, the little things that say so much by themselves.

The key to love is forgiveness… to accept each other's faults and pardon mistakes, without forgetting-but with remembering what you learn from them…

The key to love is trust… though dark doubts lay in hollowed thoughts, it must shine brightly on with reassuring radiance that suppresses fear with faith.

The key to love is sharing… facing your good fortunes as well as the bad, together; both conquering problems-forever searching for ways to intensify your happiness.

The key to love is giving… without thought of return, but with the hope of just a simple smile and by giving-in, but never up.

The key to love is respect… realizing that you are two separate people with different ideas; that you don't belong to each other, but that you belong with each other and share a mutual bond.

The key to love is inside us all… it takes time and patience to unlock all the ingredients that will take you to its threshold; it is a continual learning process that demands a lot of work…but the rewards are more than worth the effort…

Reading 62        Sonnet 18 – William Shakespeare

Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?

Thou art more lovely and more temperate:

Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,

And summer's lease hath all too short a date:

Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,

And often is his gold complexion dimmed;

And every fair from fair sometime declines,        

By chance or nature's changing course untrimmed.

But thy eternal summer shall not fade,

Nor lose possession of the fair thou ow'st;

Nor shall death brag thou wander'st in his shade,

When in eternal lines to time thou grow'st:

So long as men can breathe, or eyes can see,

So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.

Reading 63        Sonnet 14 – Elizabeth Barrett Browning

If thou must love me, let it be for naught

Except for love's sake only. Do not say

"I love her for her smile–her look–her way

Of speaking gently,–for a trick of thought

That falls in well with mine, and certes brought

A sense of pleasant ease on such a day"–

For these things in themselves, Beloved, may        

Be changed, or change for thee–and love, so wrought,

May be unwrought so. Neither love me for

Thine own dear pity's wiping my cheeks dry:

A creature might forget to weep, who bore

Thy comfort long, and love thy love thereby!

But love me for love's sake, that ever more

Though mayst love on, through love's eternity.

Reading 64        Stanzas for Music – Lord Byron

There be none of Beauty's daughters

with a magic like thee;

And like music on the waters

Is thy sweet voice to me:

When as if its sound were causing

The charmed ocean's pausing,

the waves lie still and gleaming,

and the lulled winds seem dreaming.        

And the midnight moon is weaving

Her bright chain o'er the deep;

Whose breast is gently heaving,

As an infant's asleep.

So the spirit bows before thee,

To listen and adore thee;

With a full but soft emotion,

Like the swell of Summer's ocean.

Reading 65        Love's Philosophy – Percy Bysshe Shelley

The Fountains mingle with the River

And the Rivers with the Ocean,

The winds of Heaven mix for ever

With a sweet emotion;

Nothing in the world is single;

All things by a law divine

In one spirit meet and mingle.

Why not I with thine?-        

See the mountains kiss high Heaven

And the waves clasp one another;

No sister-flower would be forgiven

If it disdained its brother,

And the sunlight clasps the earth

And the moonbeams kiss the sea:

What is all this sweet work worth

If thou kiss not me?

Reading 66        She Walks in Beauty – Lord Byron

She walks in beauty, like the night

Of cloudless climes and starry skies:

And all that's best of dark and bright

Meet in her aspect and her eyes:

Thus mellow'd to that tender light

Which heaven to gaudy day denies.

One shade the more, one ray the less

Had half impair'd the nameless grace

Which waves in every raven tress,        

Or softly lightens o'er her face:

Where thoughts serenely sweet express

How pure, how dear their dwelling place.

And on that cheek, and o'er that brow,

So soft, so calm, yet eloquent,

The smiles that win, the tints that glow,

But tell of days in goodness spent,

A mind at peace with all below,

A heart whose love is innocent!

Reading 67        I Love Thee – Thomas Hood

I love thee – I love thee!

'Tis all that I can say;

It is my vision in the night,

My dreaming in the day;

The very echo of my heart,

The blessing when I pray:

I love thee – I love thee!

Is all that I can say.

I love thee – I love thee!

Is ever on my tongue;

In all my proudest poesy

That chorus still is sung;        

It is the verdict of my eyes,

Amidst the gay and young:

I love thee- I love thee!

A thousand maids among.

I love thee – I love thee!

Thy bright and hazel glance,

The mellow lute upon those lips,

Whose tender tones entrance;

But most, dear heart of hearts, they proofs

That still these words enhance.

I love thee – I love thee!

Whatever be thy chance.

Reading 68        Marriage – Kahlil Gibran

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 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 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.

Reading 69        The Passionate Shepherd to His Love – Christopher Marlowe

Come live with me and be my love,

And we will all the pleasures prove

That valleys, groves, hills, and fields,

Woods, or steepy mountain yields.

And we will sit upon the rocks,

Seeing the shepherds feed their flocks,

By shallow rivers to whose falls

Melodious birds sing madrigals.

And I will make thee beds of roses

And a thousand fragrant posies,

A cap of flowers, and a kirtle

Embroidered all with leaves of myrtle;        

A gown made of the finest wool

Which from our pretty lambs we pull;

Fair lined slippers for the cold,

With buckles of the purest gold;

A belt of straw and ivy buds,

With coral clasps and amber studs:

And if these pleasures may thee move,

Come live with me, and be my love.

The shepherds' swains shall dance and sing

For thy delight each May morning:

IF these delights thy mind may move,

Then live with me and be my love.

Reading 70        An Irish Blessing for Weddings

May the road rise to meet you.

May the wind be always at your back.

May the sun shine warm upon your face,

The rains fall soft upon the fields.

May the light of friendship guide your paths together.

May the laughter of children grace the halls of your home.

May the joy of living for one another trip a smile from your lips,

A twinkle from your eye.        And when eternity beckons,

at the end of a life heaped high with love,

May the good Lord embrace you

with the arms that have nurtured you

the whole length of your joy-filled days.

May the gracious God hold you both

in the palm of His hands.

And, today, may the Spirit of Love

find a dwelling place in your hearts. Amen.

Reading 71        Beauty and Love – Andrew Young

Beauty and love are all my dream;

They change not with the changing day;

Love stays forever like a stream

That flows but never flows away;        

And beauty is the bright sun-bow

That blossoms on the spray that showers

Where the loud water falls below,

Making a wind among the flowers.

Reading 72        Saigyo Japanese Poet

You left impressions unforgettable

and when I view our moon        

your image surfaces

and that love seems forever.

Reading 73        Transforming Power by Lau Tzu

Your love contains the power of a thousand suns.

It unfolds as naturally and effortlessly as does a flower and graces the world with its blooming.

Its beauty radiates a transforming energy that enlivens

all who see it.        Because of you, compassion and joy are added to the world.

That is why the stars sing together because of your love.

Reading 74        Anonymous

So, as important as this ceremony is, the foundation of your marriage was formed long before we ever came here today, and that is the love that you share.

Love is gentleness

Love is kindness

Love understands and love forgives.

It is loyal through good and bad

Love hopes for the future        

Love is everlasting.

Love makes up for things that you may not have.

Without love, no matter what you do have it is never enough.

So, search for love.

Share your love.

But most of all, Enjoy your love.

Reading 75        Dietrich Bonhöffer (adapted)

Marriage is more than your love.

To marry is to ascertain and unite with one another.

To marry is to have your whole life to help and complete each other by loving.

To marry is not only to walk hand in hand

        because it is easy to unite bodies,

but it is to go heart to heart

because it is easier to love each other tenderly.

It is not your love that sustains the marriage, but it is the marriage that carries your love on its shoulders from now on.

Reading 76        A Soulmate Doesn’t Complete You, They Inspire You To Complete Yourself By Bianca Sparacino

A soulmate isn’t someone who completes you. No, a soulmate is someone who inspires you to complete yourself.

A soulmate is someone who does not judge you for your flaws. A soulmate is someone who sees your jagged edges, who sees the parts of you that have been weathered by love and by life, who sees the wars that you fight, and who chooses to stand beside you. A soulmate is someone who watches as you confront your scars from the inside; always encouraging you to heal on your own time, in your own way; always encouraging you to keep going.

A soulmate is someone who challenges you to challenge yourself. Someone who sees the potential that courses through your bones, and who lets you know exactly what you are capable of. They help you to open your eyes, to come to terms with the fact that you are powerful beyond measure. They see you in ways that you have never been able to see yourself, and they are not afraid to inspire you until you finally see it too.

See, a soulmate is someone who is not afraid of your growth. They do not feel the need to close you off, to protect you from becoming as big as you were always meant to be. They do not feel inadequate when they see you soar, when they see something new within you spark. A soulmate is someone who will never vilify you for changing, for doing the things you have always held yourself back from doing, because a soulmate knows that you are building yourself into someone you are proud of, and that is so beautiful to them — that is what they have always hoped for you.

So no, a soulmate does not complete you — they inspire you to complete yourself. A soulmate is the person who supports your direction, who motivates and encourages you to stretch, to change, to reinvent yourself until you are happy. A soulmate is someone who loves you with so much conviction, and so much heart, that it is nearly impossible to doubt just how capable you are of becoming exactly who you have always wanted to be.

Reading 77        The Notebook by Nicholas Sparks

Poets often describe love as an emotion that we can’t control, one that overwhelms logic and common sense. That’s what it was like for me. I didn’t plan on falling in love with you, and I doubt if you planned on falling in love with me.

But once we met, it was clear that neither of us could control what was happening to us. We fell in love, despite our differences, and once we did, something rare and beautiful was created.

For me, love like that has happened only once, and that’s why every minute we spent together has been seared in my memory.

Reading 78        All I know about love by Neil Gaiman

This is everything I have to tell you about love: nothing.

This is everything I’ve learned about marriage: nothing.

Only that the world out there is complicated,

and there are beasts in the night, and delight and pain,

and the only thing that makes it okay, sometimes,

is to reach out a hand in the darkness and find another hand to squeeze, and not to be alone.

It’s not the kisses, or never just the kisses: it’s what they mean.

Somebody’s got your back.

Somebody knows your worst self and somehow doesn’t want to rescue you or send for the army to rescue them.

It’s not two broken halves becoming one.

It’s the light from a distant lighthouse bringing you both safely home because home is wherever you are both together.

        So this is everything I have to tell you about love and marriage: nothing, like a book without pages or a forest without trees.

Because there are things you cannot know before you experience them.

Because no study can prepare you for the joys or the trials.

Because nobody else’s love, nobody else’s marriage, is like yours,

and it’s a road you can only learn by walking it,

a dance you cannot be taught,

a song that did not exist before you began, together, to sing.

And because in the darkness you will reach out a hand,

not knowing for certain if someone else is even there.

And your hands will meet,

and then neither of you will ever need to be alone again.

And that’s all I know about love.