POETRY FOR A WEDDING CEREMONY: EXAMPLES
(SECULAR ROMANTIC - BY THE BRIDE AND/OR GROOM)
1. This is a poem called LOVE, by Rosalie Catherine Dunn
Love makes life beautiful,
love makes all things worthwhile.
Love makes me go through every day
with a song in my heart and a smile.
Love makes me so very happy
that I want for you to know...
That the love I feel for you inside
will forever continue to grow.
(SECULAR ROMANTIC - BY A GUEST)
2. This is a poem called PURE LOVE by John Logan
Pure as the charities above
Rise the sweet sympathies of love;
And closer chords than those of life
Unite the husband to the wife.
(SECULAR ROMANTIC - BY THE GROOM)
3. This is a poem called THE PASSIONATE SHEPHERD TO HIS LOVE by Christopher Marlowe
Come live with me and be my Love,
And we will all the pleasures prove
That hills and valleys, dales and fields
And all the craggy mountains yield.
There will we sit upon the rocks
And see the shepherds feed their flocks,
By shallow rivers to whose falls
Melodious birds sing madrigals.
And I will make thee beds of roses
With 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 silver dishes for the meat
As precious as the gods do eat,
Shall on an ivory table be
Prepared each day for thee and me.
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.
(SECULAR ROMANTIC - BY THE BRIDE)
4. This is a poem called MY TRUE LOVE HATH MY HEART by Sir Philip Sidney
My true-love hath my heart, and I have his,
By just exchange one for another given;
I hold his dear, and mine he cannot miss,
There never was a better bargain driven:
My true-love hath my heart, and I have his.
His heart in me keeps him and me 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.
(SECULAR ROMANTIC - BY THE BRIDE)
5. THE BIRTHDAY by Christina Rossetti
My heart is like a singing bird
Whose nest is in a watered shoot;
My heart is like an apple tree
Whose boughs are bent with thick set fruit;
My heart is like a rainbow shell
That paddles in a halcyon sea;
My heart is gladder than all these
Because my love is come to me.
Raise me a dais of silk and down;
Hang it with vair and purple dyes;
Carve it in doves and pomegranates,
And peacocks with a hundred eyes;
Work it in gold and silver grapes,
In leaves and silver fleur-de-lys;
Because the birthday of my life
Is come, my love is come to me.
(SECULAR ROMANTIC - BY A GUEST, THE BRIDE, OR THE GROOM)
6. This is a poem called IN LOVE MADE VISIBLE by May Swenson
In love we are made visible
As in a magic bath
are unpeeled
to the sharp pit
so long concealed
With love's alertness
we recognize
the soundless whimper
of the soul
behind the eyes
A shaft opens
and the timid thing
at last leaps to surface
with full-spread wing
The fingertips of love discover
more than the body's smoothness
They uncover a hidden conduit
for the transfusion
of empathies that circumvent
the mind's intrusion
In love are we set free
Objective bone
and flesh no longer insulate us
to ourselves alone
We are released
and flow into each other's cup
Our two frail vials pierced
drink each other up
(SECULAR ROMANTIC - BY THE BRIDE OR GROOM)
7. This is called THE MINUTE I HEARD MY FIRST LOVE STORY by Rumi
The minute I heard my first love story
I started looking for you, not knowing
how blind that was.
Lovers don't finally meet somewhere.
They're in each other all along.
(SPIRITUAL ROMANTIC - BY THE BRIDE OR GROOM)
8. This is called LOVE SONG by Gloria Elizabeth
If I had a mouthful of kisses,
I would scatter them over your face,
like little white flowers.
Had I a heartful of love,
I would pour it over your body,
like spring water pure and clear.
If I had a soulful of fears,
I would deliver them over to you,
gold sovereigns from a secret hoard.
I have a mouthful,
a heartful,
a soulful.
Please take them.
(SPIRITUAL ROMANTIC)
9. This is a Poem called TO MY BRIDE, by Steve Riser
To my Bride, I give you my heart,
sharing love each day from the very start.
To my Bride I give you my kiss,
filling each day with joy and bliss.
To my Bride, I give you my being,
to love, to play, to work, and to sing.
To my Bride, I give you my mind,
learning each day to be more kind.
To my Bride, I give you my soul,
growing together to be more whole.
To my Bride, I give you my life,
Rejoicing each day you are my wife.
(SPIRITUAL ROMANTIC - BY THE GROOM)
10. This is a poem called GIFT FROM HEAVEN by Joe Hesser
I was blessed by God when He sent an angel down
From heaven you came and there you were found.
With your beauty so divine and your soul so sweet
It can make a grown man cry, and bring the strong to their knees.
You are a gift from heaven with a golden bow
With love that stays strong with a shiny glow.
With you I am whole, and I think it's meant to be
I cannot thank God enough for this miracle He's given me.
(SPIRITUAL ROMANTIC)
11. This is a poem called A DRUIDIC VOW
We swear by peace and love to stand
Heart to heart, and hand in hand
Mark, O Spirit, and hear us now,
Confirming this our Sacred Vow.
(SPIRITUAL ROMANTIC)
12. This is a poem called LOVE'S PHILOSOPHY by Percy Bysshe Shelley
The fountains mingle with the river
And the rivers with the ocean,
The winds of heaven mix forever
With a sweet emotion;
Nothing in the world is single,
All things by a law divine
In one another's being 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 disdain'd its brother
And the sunlight clasps the earth,
And the moonbeams kiss the sea-
What are all these kissings worth,
If thou kiss not me?
(SPIRITUAL ROMANTIC - BY THE BRIDE OR GROOM)
13. This is a reading from SONNETS FROM THE PORTUGESE by 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 and ideal Grace.
I love thee to the level of everyday'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 griefs, 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.
(SPIRITUAL ROMANTIC - BY A GUEST)
14. This is a poem called TRUE LOVE. The author is unknown.
True love is a sacred flame that burns eternally,
And none can dim its special glow or change its destiny.
True love speaks in tender tones and hears with gentle ear,
True love gives with open heart and true love conquers fear.
True love makes no harsh demands It neither rules nor binds,
True love holds with gentle hands the hearts that it entwines.
POETRY: FROM AROUND THE WEB