Readings And Poetry---4
Sun Rise
Keri Jolly
The grey began to fade
as the colours filled the sky;
the chill began to warm
as the sun began to rise.
A lost girl found direction
as the eastern orb rose high,
The dark sky turned to blue
like the color of his eyes.
Dark turned to light,
Grey turned to blue,
Lost became found,
that's when I met you.
I Love You
J.E. Deegan
I love you with a permanence
that endures the passing years;
I love you with a joyfulness
that subdues all doubts and fears.
I love you with an honesty
that was born within my heart,
I love you with the calm belief
that we will never part.
I love you with a confidence
no earthly force can sever,
I love you with the certainty
that I'll cherish you forever.
I love you with the humbleness
of one who has been blessed,
I love you with the reverence
of all that word suggests---
I love you with a fervor
that time cannot reverse,
I love you with the truest love
that poets put to verse.
What Marriage Truly Is
Author Unknown
Marriage is the joining of two individuals for the one goal of
remembering Love.
In this world, you may be given a partner to help you
remember.
This, then, is the responsibility of husband and wife---to
recognize Love within each other and share that recognition.
The goal of Matrimony is to build a world of recognizing
Love in one another. Fear, guilt and separation end, and
Love, the true reality, take their place.
For Love is within each of us, and we can share the
awareness of our true identity with each other.
You and your partner are joined to each other beyond Time,
for, in truth, your Love for each other
was, is, and will be Eternal.
Love simply is.
This is the lesson which you can choose to learn through
your life together.
Your life is eternal, and so is your Love.
Love is a glorious Gift given to each of us,
to be shared and extended
in every moment and every situation.
So the holy agreement of marriage is really
nothing more than this:
to joyfully share Love so that each may remember
the Love within themselves, each other,
and all of our brothers and sisters.
Balloon
Graeme King
I think that I might fly away in my hot air balloon
and hide from worldly worries on the dark side of the moon;
There's but one thing I need before I float into the blue,
I need a sky companion and I want it to be you.
We'll fly beyond the storm clouds and we'll watch from up
above,
I'll cover you in rainbows as we feel each other's love;
You'll shower in the stars at midnight in our special place,
I'll dry you with a comet's tail and kiss your beaming face.
Dreamy, drifting panorama, changing every day,
Every night your loving smile will be my milky way;
The moon will wave before us sailing there in heaven's
height,
For nothing else can challenge our love's everlasting light;
Venus shining on us, glowing soft on our devotion,
Our daily drifting dalliance in Love's celestial ocean;
I'll write you lover's poetry and you will be my muse,
Orion and Andromeda will oversee our cruise.
We'll sleep with clouds as pillows, maybe steal an angel's
wings,
then fly as magic lovebirds or slide 'round Saturn's rings;
And should we tire of drifting and the stars all floating by,
we'll hook onto a meteor and soar across the sky.
Will you consent to be my mate on our celestial ship?
I'm ready, heart all packed with love to last us for the trip;
Take my hand and step aboard, we're heading for the sun,
We're flying till we find the place where our two souls are
one.
A Rose That Once Stood Alone
Zahra Ahmed
A solitary rose grew in the darkest corner of the garden
surrounded by many others
yet remained alone.
Time passed and trials came and went,
one dealt a severe blow,
and the rose began to wilt------and wither
Forgotten---
Then-------as if by a miracle,
there came a soft and gentle breeze
followed by a ray of Light,
as all the other roses fell into darkness
the solitary rose began to shine.
Shining with a spiritual light
and watered by a gentle cascade,
a cascade of Love,
a cascade of selfless affection.
"I do----not now but forever----"
said the rose to the sunlight,
and there they remain,
A rose in full bloom
with her sunshine smiling down on her------
You are my sunshine, my life, my very soul,
and I, your rose---blooming in the Light of your Love.
A Love For All Time
Dawn Choike
Breathless, kisses, burning touches,
soft spoken words of love, urgently spoken words of passion,
a man and a woman, one complete love
since Time began, predestined to be as one.
We've been together before
in other lifetimes----
We've fought dragons,
and have been torn from each other's arms---
yet our love prevailed.
We've walked on this earth many times together;
perhaps for a moment---perhaps for years.
But our heart is one heart and we were meant to be---
so when our time on earth comes to a close,
have no worries, my dear---for we will find each other again
and again
and again
For our Love is ageless,
Eternal
A Love for all time.
A Marriage
Michael Blumenthal
You are holding up a ceiling with both arms.
It is very heavy but you must hold it up
or else it will fall down on you.
Your arms are tired
totally tired,
and as the day goes on, it feels
as if either your arms or the ceiling
will soon collapse.
But then, unexpectedly,
something wonderful happens;
Someone, a man or a woman
walks into the room
and holds their arms up
to the ceiling beside you.
So you finally get to
take down your arms.
You feel the relief of respite,
the blood flowing back
to your fingers and arms.
And when your partner's arms tire
you hold up your own
to relieve him again.
And it can go on like this
for many years
without the house falling.
The Passionate Shepherd To His
Love--------------------------Christipher 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
mountains 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 shepherd swains shall dance and sing for thy delight
each may morning,
if these delights thy mind may move, then come live with me
and be my love.
Gift From The Sea
Anne Morrow Lindberg
When you love someone, you do bot love them all the time, in
exactly the same way, from moment to moment.
It is an impossibility. It is even a lie to pretend to.
And yet this is exactly what most of us demand.
We have so little faith in the ebb and flow of life, of love, of
relationships, we leap at the flow of the tide and resist in
terror its ebb.
We are afraid it will never return.
We insist on permanency, on duration, on continuity;
when the only continuity possible, in life as in love, is in
growth, in fluidity---in freedom, in the sense that the dancers
are free, barely touching as they pass, but partners in the same
pattern.
The only real security is not in owning or possessing,
not in demanding or expecting, not in hoping, even.
Security in a relationship lies neither in looking back to what
was, in nostalgia,
nor forward to what it might be, in dread oe anticipation,
but living in the present relationship
and accepting it as it is now.
Relationships must be like islands,
one must accept them for what they are here and now---
within their limits
islands surrounded and interrupted by the sea,
and continually visited and abandoned by the tides.
A Natural History Of Love
Diane Ackerman
Love!
What a small word we use for an idea so immense and
powerful,
it has altered the flow of history, calmed monsters, kindled
works of art, cheered the forlorn, turned tough guys to mush,
consoled the enslaved, driven strong man and women mad,
glorified the humble, fueled national scandals,
bank--rupted robber barons and made mincemeat of kings!
How can Love's spaciousness be conveyed
in the narrow confines of one syllable?
Love is an ancient delirium,
a desire older than civilization, with tap--roots spreading into
deep and mysterious days.
The heart is a living museum.
In each of its galleries, no matter how narrow or dimly lit,
preserved forever, like wondrous diatoms,
are our moments of loving, and being loved.
The End Of Day
C. S. Bucknam
When all the songs are over,
and all the words been said
the sun grows dim across the sky
and the world prepares for bed.
I oft can take a moment now
to view the sky above,
and whisper God, a simple prayer,
to thank Him for your love.
My King
Nima Akbari
You're my man, my mighty king,
and I'm the jewel in your crown;
You're the sun so hot and bright,
I'm your light rays shining down.
You're the sky so vast and blue
and I'm the white clouds in your chest,
I'm a river clean and pure,
who in your ocean finds her rest.
You're the mountain huge and high,
I'm the valley green and wide;
You're the body firm and strong,
I'm the rib bone in your side.
You're an eagle flying high,
I'm your feather, light and brown;
You're my man, my King of Kings,
and I'm the jewel in your crown.
Dance Of Love
Paul L. Herrou
If your love is to grow and deepen
you must find a way to move with each other,
perhaps in a slow and graceful dance
(bare feet firmly feeling the ground)
A dance that circles and tests and learns
as it gradually moves closer to that place
where you can each pass through the other
and turn and embrace without breaking
or losing any part of yourselves
but only to learn more of who you each are
by your touching;
to find that you are each whole and individuals and separate,
yet, in the same instant one, joined as a whole
that does not blur the two individuals as you dance.
The music is there if you will listen hard,
through the static and noise of life,
and other tunes that fill your heads.
You are here
marking time to the music.
The dance can only begin
if you will take the first (and hardest)
tentative,
uncertain,
stumbling
step.
On Marriage
Kenneth Phifer
The institution of Marriage was begun
that a man and a woman
might learn how to love
and, in loving, know joy;
that a man ans a woman
might learn how to share pain and loneliness
and, in sharing, know strength;
that a man and a woman
might learn how to give
and, in giving, know communion.
The institution of Marriage was begun
that a man and a woman
might, through their joy,
their strength and their communion
become creators of Life itself.
Marriage is a high and holy state,
to be held in honor
among all men and women;
Marriage is a low and common state
to be built of the stuff of daily life.
Men and women are not angels nor are they gods.
Love can become hatred,
joy, sorrow, marriage, divorce.
But human beings are not condemned to failure.
Love can grow, even in a real world.
The wounds of sorrow can be healed,
and new life built on the learnings of the old.
Love is the reason for our gathering today,
to renew our faith,
in the strength of hope and the power of love.
From "Union"
Robert Fulghum
You have known each other from the first glance of
acquaintance to this point of commitment.
At some point, you decided to marry.
From that moment of "yes" to this moment of "yes. jndeed,
you have been making promises and agreements in an informal
way.
All those conversations that were held riding in a car, over a
meal or during long walks---
all those sentences that began with "when we're married' and
continued with "I will" and "you will" and "we will---
those late night talks that included "someday" and "somehow'
and "maybe"--and all those promises that are unspoken
matters of the heart.
All these common things, and more, are the real process of a
wedding.
The symbolic vows that you are about to make are a way of
saying to one another:
"you know all those things we've promised and hoped and
dreamed--well, I meant it all, every word."
Look at one another and remember this moment in time.
Before this moment you have been many things to one
another---
acquaintance, friend, companion, lover, dancing partner, and
even teacher, for you have learned much from one another in
these last few years.
Now you shall say a few words that take you across a
threshold of life, and things will never quite be the same
between you.
For after these vows, you shall say to the world:
"This is my husband"
"This is my wife"
A Reading
Author Unknown
When a man and a woman are in love, his life lies within
hers and her life lies within his.
Each lives as an individual, yet they also live for one another.
Each strives for independent goals, but they also work
together to achieve their goals.
When a man and a woman are in love, they will give to one
another what thay need to survive and help fulfill each other's
wants.
They turn one another's disappointments into satisfactions.
They will turn one another's frustrations into contentment.
They will work as a mirror, reflecting to each other their
strengths and weaknesses.
They will work together to alleviate the emotional walls that
may separate them.
They will work together to build a better understanding of
one another.
They will learn to lean on one another, but not so much as to
be a burden on the other,
They will learn to reach out to one another, but not so much
as to suffocate the other.\
They will learn when it is time to speak and when it is time
to listen.
They will be there to comfort each other in times of sorrow.
They will be there to celebrate together in times of happiness.
They will be one another's friend; guiding each other to the
happiness that life holds.
They will be one another's companion, facing together the
challenges that life may present.
When a man and a woman are in love, his life lies within
hers and her life lies within his.
Together they will love one another for the rest of their lives
and forevermore.
Love Is-----
Susan Polis Schutz
Love is---
being happy for the other person when they are happy,
being sad for the other person when they are sad,
being together in good times and being together in bad times.
Love is the source of strength
Love is---
being honest with yourself at all times.
being honest with the other person at all times,
telling, listening, respecting the truth and never pretending.
Love is the source of realibility.
Love is---
an understanding that is so complete that you feel as if you are
a part of the other person,
accepting the other person just the way they are and not trying
to change them to be something else.
Love is the source of unity.
Love is---
the freedom to pursue our own desires while sharing our
experiences with the other person,
the growth of one individual alongside of and together with the
growth of another individual.
Love is the source of success.
Love is---
the excitement of planning things together,
the excitement of doing things together.
Love is the source of the future.
Love is---
the fury of the storm, the calm of the rainbow.
Love is the source of passion.
Love is---
the giving and the taking in a daily situation,
being patient with each other's needs and desires.
Love is the source of sharing.
Love is---
knowing that the other person will always be with you
regardless of what happens,
missing the other person when they are away
but remaining near in heart at all times.
Love is the source of security
Love is the source of Life.
When LoveBeckons
From: "The Prophet"
Kahlil Gibran
When Love beckons to you, follow him,
though his ways are hard and steep.
And when his wings enfold you, yield to him,
though the sword hidden among his pinions may wound you.
And when he speaks to you, believe in him,
though his voice may shatter your dreams as the North Wind
lays waste the gardens.
For even as love crowns you so shall he crucify you.
Even as he is for your growth so is he for your pruning.
Even as he ascends to your height and caresses your tenderest
branches that quiver in the sun,
so shall he descend to the roots and shake them in their
clinging to the earth.
Like sheaves of corn he gathers you unto himself.
He threshes you to make you naked,
he sifts you to free you from your husks.
He grinds you to whiteness,
he kneads you until you are pliant,
and then he assigns you to his Sacred Fire that you may
become sacred bread for God's sacred feast.
All these things shall love do unto you that you may know
the secrets of your heart and in that knowledge
become a fragment od Life's Heart.
But if in your fear you would seek only Love's peace and
Love's pleasures, then it is better for you that you cover your
nakedness and pass out of Love's threshing floor,
into the seasonless world where you shall laugh
but not all of your laughter,
and weep but not all of your tears.
Love gives naught but itself and takes naught but from itself.
Love possesses not nor would it be possessed
for Love is sufficient unto Love.
When you love you should not say "God is in my Heart."
but rather "I am in the Heart of God.'
And think not that you can direct the course of Love,
but Love, if it finds you worthy, directs your course.
Love has no other desire but to fulfill itself,
But if you love and must needs have desires,
let these be your desires:
To melt and be like a running brook
that sings its melody to the night;
to know the pain of too much tenderness;
to be wounded by your own understanding of Love;
and to bleed, willingly and joyfully,
to waken at dawn with a winged heart,
and give thanks for another day of loving,
to rest at noon and meditate on love's ecstasy,
to return home at eventide with gratitude
and to sleep with a prayer for the Beloved in your heart
and a song of praise upon your lips.
Song Of Solomon
My Beloved speaks and says to me:
" Arise, my love, my fair one, and come away;
for lo! the winter is past--the rain is over and gone.
The flowers appear on the earth,
the time of singing has come,
and the voice of the turtledove is heard in our land.
The fig tree puts forth its figs, and the vines are in blossom;
they give forth fragrance.
Arise, my love, my fair one and come away.
O my dove, in the clefts of the rock,
in the covert of the cliff,
let me see your face, let me hear your voice,
for your voice is sweet and your face is comely.
Catch us the foxes, the little foxes,
that spoil the vineyards, for our vineyards are in blossom."
My Beloved is mine and I am his,
he pastures his flocks among the lilies,
and the shadows flee,
turn, my beloved, be like a gazelle,
or a young stag upon rugged mountains.
Seasons
Ecclesiastes 3: 1-8
For everything there is a season
and a time for every matter under heaven:
a time to be born and a time to die,
a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted,
a time to kill, and a time to build up,
a time to mourn, and a time to dance,;
a time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together,
a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing,
a time to seek and a time to lose;
a time to keep, and a time to cast away,
a time to rend and a time to sew,
a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;
a time to love, and a time to hate,
a time for war, and a time for peace.
1st Corinthians 13: 1-13
If I speak in the tongues of men and even that of angels, but
have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And
if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and
all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove
mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give away
all I have, and if I deliver my body to be burned, but have
not love, I gain nothing, I gain nothing.
Love is patient and kind; Love is not jealous or boastful, it
is not arrogant or rude. Love does not insist on its own way;
it is not irritable or resentful, it does not rejoice at wrong, but
rejoices in the right. Love bears all things, believes all
things, endures all things. Love never ends.
Now abide these three: faith, hope and love---but the greatest
of all is Love.
The Song of Ruth
Entreat me not to leave thee
or to return from following after thee;
For whither thou goest, I will go;
Whither thou lodgest I will lodge.
Thy people shall be my people
and thy God my God;
Where thou diest, will I die
and there will I be buried;
The Lord do so to me, and more also,
if ought but death part thee and me.
Love's Philosophy
Percy 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;
now sister flower would be forgiven
if it disdained its brother;
And the sunlight clasp the earth,
and the moonbeams kiss the sea---
What are all these kissings worth,
if thou kiss not me?
A Reading
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 relationship 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.
The Foundation Of Marriage
Regina Hill
Love, trust and forgiveness are the foundation of marriage.
In marriage many days will bring happiness,
while other days will be sad.
But together, two hearts can overcome everything in marriage.
All the moments won't be exciting or romantic
and sometimes worries and anxiety will be overwhelming.
But together, two hearts that accept
will find comfort together.
Recollections of past joys, pain and shared feelings
will be the glue that holds everything together
during even the worst and most insecure moments,
reaching out to each other as a friend, and becoming
the confidant and companion that the other one needs,
is the true magic and beauty of any two people together.
It's inspiring in each other a dream or a feeling
and having faith in each other and not giving up
even when all the odds say to quit.
It's allowing each other to be vulnerable,
to be himself or herself, even when the opinions or thoughts
aren't in total agreement
or exactly what you'd like them to be.
It's getting involved and showing interest in each other,
really listening and being available,
the way any best friend should be..
Exactly three things need to be remembered in a marriage
if it is to be a mutual bond of sharing, caring
and loving throughout life: Love, Trust and Forgiveness.
The Most Wonderful Of All Things
In Life
Sir Hugh Walpole
The most wonderful of all things in life
is the discovery of another human being
with whom one's relationship has a growing depth,
beauty and joy as the years increase.
The inner progressiveness of love between two human beings
is a most marvelous thing;
it cannot be found by looking for it
or by passionately wishing for it.
It is a sort of divine accident,
and the most wonderful of all things in life.
Oath of Friendship
Author Unknown
I want to be your friend,
forever and ever without break or decay.
When the hills are all flat,
and the rivers are all dry;
When it lightens and thunders.
In winter when it rains and snows,
In summer when Heaven and Earth mingle;
Not till then will I part from you.
What Is Love?
Walter Rinder
Love is not just looking at each other
and saying: "You're Wonderful."
There are times when we are anything but wonderful.
Love is looking out in the same direction.
It is linking our strength to pull a common load.
It is pushing together towards the far horizons,
hand in hand.
Love is knowing that when our strength falters,
we can borrow the strength of someone who cares.
Love is a strange awareness that our sorrows will be shared
and made lighter by sharing;
that joys will be enriched and multiplied
by the joys of another.
Love is knowing someone else cares,
that we are not alone in life.
Keri Jolly
The grey began to fade
as the colours filled the sky;
the chill began to warm
as the sun began to rise.
A lost girl found direction
as the eastern orb rose high,
The dark sky turned to blue
like the color of his eyes.
Dark turned to light,
Grey turned to blue,
Lost became found,
that's when I met you.
I Love You
J.E. Deegan
I love you with a permanence
that endures the passing years;
I love you with a joyfulness
that subdues all doubts and fears.
I love you with an honesty
that was born within my heart,
I love you with the calm belief
that we will never part.
I love you with a confidence
no earthly force can sever,
I love you with the certainty
that I'll cherish you forever.
I love you with the humbleness
of one who has been blessed,
I love you with the reverence
of all that word suggests---
I love you with a fervor
that time cannot reverse,
I love you with the truest love
that poets put to verse.
What Marriage Truly Is
Author Unknown
Marriage is the joining of two individuals for the one goal of
remembering Love.
In this world, you may be given a partner to help you
remember.
This, then, is the responsibility of husband and wife---to
recognize Love within each other and share that recognition.
The goal of Matrimony is to build a world of recognizing
Love in one another. Fear, guilt and separation end, and
Love, the true reality, take their place.
For Love is within each of us, and we can share the
awareness of our true identity with each other.
You and your partner are joined to each other beyond Time,
for, in truth, your Love for each other
was, is, and will be Eternal.
Love simply is.
This is the lesson which you can choose to learn through
your life together.
Your life is eternal, and so is your Love.
Love is a glorious Gift given to each of us,
to be shared and extended
in every moment and every situation.
So the holy agreement of marriage is really
nothing more than this:
to joyfully share Love so that each may remember
the Love within themselves, each other,
and all of our brothers and sisters.
Balloon
Graeme King
I think that I might fly away in my hot air balloon
and hide from worldly worries on the dark side of the moon;
There's but one thing I need before I float into the blue,
I need a sky companion and I want it to be you.
We'll fly beyond the storm clouds and we'll watch from up
above,
I'll cover you in rainbows as we feel each other's love;
You'll shower in the stars at midnight in our special place,
I'll dry you with a comet's tail and kiss your beaming face.
Dreamy, drifting panorama, changing every day,
Every night your loving smile will be my milky way;
The moon will wave before us sailing there in heaven's
height,
For nothing else can challenge our love's everlasting light;
Venus shining on us, glowing soft on our devotion,
Our daily drifting dalliance in Love's celestial ocean;
I'll write you lover's poetry and you will be my muse,
Orion and Andromeda will oversee our cruise.
We'll sleep with clouds as pillows, maybe steal an angel's
wings,
then fly as magic lovebirds or slide 'round Saturn's rings;
And should we tire of drifting and the stars all floating by,
we'll hook onto a meteor and soar across the sky.
Will you consent to be my mate on our celestial ship?
I'm ready, heart all packed with love to last us for the trip;
Take my hand and step aboard, we're heading for the sun,
We're flying till we find the place where our two souls are
one.
A Rose That Once Stood Alone
Zahra Ahmed
A solitary rose grew in the darkest corner of the garden
surrounded by many others
yet remained alone.
Time passed and trials came and went,
one dealt a severe blow,
and the rose began to wilt------and wither
Forgotten---
Then-------as if by a miracle,
there came a soft and gentle breeze
followed by a ray of Light,
as all the other roses fell into darkness
the solitary rose began to shine.
Shining with a spiritual light
and watered by a gentle cascade,
a cascade of Love,
a cascade of selfless affection.
"I do----not now but forever----"
said the rose to the sunlight,
and there they remain,
A rose in full bloom
with her sunshine smiling down on her------
You are my sunshine, my life, my very soul,
and I, your rose---blooming in the Light of your Love.
A Love For All Time
Dawn Choike
Breathless, kisses, burning touches,
soft spoken words of love, urgently spoken words of passion,
a man and a woman, one complete love
since Time began, predestined to be as one.
We've been together before
in other lifetimes----
We've fought dragons,
and have been torn from each other's arms---
yet our love prevailed.
We've walked on this earth many times together;
perhaps for a moment---perhaps for years.
But our heart is one heart and we were meant to be---
so when our time on earth comes to a close,
have no worries, my dear---for we will find each other again
and again
and again
For our Love is ageless,
Eternal
A Love for all time.
A Marriage
Michael Blumenthal
You are holding up a ceiling with both arms.
It is very heavy but you must hold it up
or else it will fall down on you.
Your arms are tired
totally tired,
and as the day goes on, it feels
as if either your arms or the ceiling
will soon collapse.
But then, unexpectedly,
something wonderful happens;
Someone, a man or a woman
walks into the room
and holds their arms up
to the ceiling beside you.
So you finally get to
take down your arms.
You feel the relief of respite,
the blood flowing back
to your fingers and arms.
And when your partner's arms tire
you hold up your own
to relieve him again.
And it can go on like this
for many years
without the house falling.
The Passionate Shepherd To His
Love--------------------------Christipher 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
mountains 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 shepherd swains shall dance and sing for thy delight
each may morning,
if these delights thy mind may move, then come live with me
and be my love.
Gift From The Sea
Anne Morrow Lindberg
When you love someone, you do bot love them all the time, in
exactly the same way, from moment to moment.
It is an impossibility. It is even a lie to pretend to.
And yet this is exactly what most of us demand.
We have so little faith in the ebb and flow of life, of love, of
relationships, we leap at the flow of the tide and resist in
terror its ebb.
We are afraid it will never return.
We insist on permanency, on duration, on continuity;
when the only continuity possible, in life as in love, is in
growth, in fluidity---in freedom, in the sense that the dancers
are free, barely touching as they pass, but partners in the same
pattern.
The only real security is not in owning or possessing,
not in demanding or expecting, not in hoping, even.
Security in a relationship lies neither in looking back to what
was, in nostalgia,
nor forward to what it might be, in dread oe anticipation,
but living in the present relationship
and accepting it as it is now.
Relationships must be like islands,
one must accept them for what they are here and now---
within their limits
islands surrounded and interrupted by the sea,
and continually visited and abandoned by the tides.
A Natural History Of Love
Diane Ackerman
Love!
What a small word we use for an idea so immense and
powerful,
it has altered the flow of history, calmed monsters, kindled
works of art, cheered the forlorn, turned tough guys to mush,
consoled the enslaved, driven strong man and women mad,
glorified the humble, fueled national scandals,
bank--rupted robber barons and made mincemeat of kings!
How can Love's spaciousness be conveyed
in the narrow confines of one syllable?
Love is an ancient delirium,
a desire older than civilization, with tap--roots spreading into
deep and mysterious days.
The heart is a living museum.
In each of its galleries, no matter how narrow or dimly lit,
preserved forever, like wondrous diatoms,
are our moments of loving, and being loved.
The End Of Day
C. S. Bucknam
When all the songs are over,
and all the words been said
the sun grows dim across the sky
and the world prepares for bed.
I oft can take a moment now
to view the sky above,
and whisper God, a simple prayer,
to thank Him for your love.
My King
Nima Akbari
You're my man, my mighty king,
and I'm the jewel in your crown;
You're the sun so hot and bright,
I'm your light rays shining down.
You're the sky so vast and blue
and I'm the white clouds in your chest,
I'm a river clean and pure,
who in your ocean finds her rest.
You're the mountain huge and high,
I'm the valley green and wide;
You're the body firm and strong,
I'm the rib bone in your side.
You're an eagle flying high,
I'm your feather, light and brown;
You're my man, my King of Kings,
and I'm the jewel in your crown.
Dance Of Love
Paul L. Herrou
If your love is to grow and deepen
you must find a way to move with each other,
perhaps in a slow and graceful dance
(bare feet firmly feeling the ground)
A dance that circles and tests and learns
as it gradually moves closer to that place
where you can each pass through the other
and turn and embrace without breaking
or losing any part of yourselves
but only to learn more of who you each are
by your touching;
to find that you are each whole and individuals and separate,
yet, in the same instant one, joined as a whole
that does not blur the two individuals as you dance.
The music is there if you will listen hard,
through the static and noise of life,
and other tunes that fill your heads.
You are here
marking time to the music.
The dance can only begin
if you will take the first (and hardest)
tentative,
uncertain,
stumbling
step.
On Marriage
Kenneth Phifer
The institution of Marriage was begun
that a man and a woman
might learn how to love
and, in loving, know joy;
that a man ans a woman
might learn how to share pain and loneliness
and, in sharing, know strength;
that a man and a woman
might learn how to give
and, in giving, know communion.
The institution of Marriage was begun
that a man and a woman
might, through their joy,
their strength and their communion
become creators of Life itself.
Marriage is a high and holy state,
to be held in honor
among all men and women;
Marriage is a low and common state
to be built of the stuff of daily life.
Men and women are not angels nor are they gods.
Love can become hatred,
joy, sorrow, marriage, divorce.
But human beings are not condemned to failure.
Love can grow, even in a real world.
The wounds of sorrow can be healed,
and new life built on the learnings of the old.
Love is the reason for our gathering today,
to renew our faith,
in the strength of hope and the power of love.
From "Union"
Robert Fulghum
You have known each other from the first glance of
acquaintance to this point of commitment.
At some point, you decided to marry.
From that moment of "yes" to this moment of "yes. jndeed,
you have been making promises and agreements in an informal
way.
All those conversations that were held riding in a car, over a
meal or during long walks---
all those sentences that began with "when we're married' and
continued with "I will" and "you will" and "we will---
those late night talks that included "someday" and "somehow'
and "maybe"--and all those promises that are unspoken
matters of the heart.
All these common things, and more, are the real process of a
wedding.
The symbolic vows that you are about to make are a way of
saying to one another:
"you know all those things we've promised and hoped and
dreamed--well, I meant it all, every word."
Look at one another and remember this moment in time.
Before this moment you have been many things to one
another---
acquaintance, friend, companion, lover, dancing partner, and
even teacher, for you have learned much from one another in
these last few years.
Now you shall say a few words that take you across a
threshold of life, and things will never quite be the same
between you.
For after these vows, you shall say to the world:
"This is my husband"
"This is my wife"
A Reading
Author Unknown
When a man and a woman are in love, his life lies within
hers and her life lies within his.
Each lives as an individual, yet they also live for one another.
Each strives for independent goals, but they also work
together to achieve their goals.
When a man and a woman are in love, they will give to one
another what thay need to survive and help fulfill each other's
wants.
They turn one another's disappointments into satisfactions.
They will turn one another's frustrations into contentment.
They will work as a mirror, reflecting to each other their
strengths and weaknesses.
They will work together to alleviate the emotional walls that
may separate them.
They will work together to build a better understanding of
one another.
They will learn to lean on one another, but not so much as to
be a burden on the other,
They will learn to reach out to one another, but not so much
as to suffocate the other.\
They will learn when it is time to speak and when it is time
to listen.
They will be there to comfort each other in times of sorrow.
They will be there to celebrate together in times of happiness.
They will be one another's friend; guiding each other to the
happiness that life holds.
They will be one another's companion, facing together the
challenges that life may present.
When a man and a woman are in love, his life lies within
hers and her life lies within his.
Together they will love one another for the rest of their lives
and forevermore.
Love Is-----
Susan Polis Schutz
Love is---
being happy for the other person when they are happy,
being sad for the other person when they are sad,
being together in good times and being together in bad times.
Love is the source of strength
Love is---
being honest with yourself at all times.
being honest with the other person at all times,
telling, listening, respecting the truth and never pretending.
Love is the source of realibility.
Love is---
an understanding that is so complete that you feel as if you are
a part of the other person,
accepting the other person just the way they are and not trying
to change them to be something else.
Love is the source of unity.
Love is---
the freedom to pursue our own desires while sharing our
experiences with the other person,
the growth of one individual alongside of and together with the
growth of another individual.
Love is the source of success.
Love is---
the excitement of planning things together,
the excitement of doing things together.
Love is the source of the future.
Love is---
the fury of the storm, the calm of the rainbow.
Love is the source of passion.
Love is---
the giving and the taking in a daily situation,
being patient with each other's needs and desires.
Love is the source of sharing.
Love is---
knowing that the other person will always be with you
regardless of what happens,
missing the other person when they are away
but remaining near in heart at all times.
Love is the source of security
Love is the source of Life.
When LoveBeckons
From: "The Prophet"
Kahlil Gibran
When Love beckons to you, follow him,
though his ways are hard and steep.
And when his wings enfold you, yield to him,
though the sword hidden among his pinions may wound you.
And when he speaks to you, believe in him,
though his voice may shatter your dreams as the North Wind
lays waste the gardens.
For even as love crowns you so shall he crucify you.
Even as he is for your growth so is he for your pruning.
Even as he ascends to your height and caresses your tenderest
branches that quiver in the sun,
so shall he descend to the roots and shake them in their
clinging to the earth.
Like sheaves of corn he gathers you unto himself.
He threshes you to make you naked,
he sifts you to free you from your husks.
He grinds you to whiteness,
he kneads you until you are pliant,
and then he assigns you to his Sacred Fire that you may
become sacred bread for God's sacred feast.
All these things shall love do unto you that you may know
the secrets of your heart and in that knowledge
become a fragment od Life's Heart.
But if in your fear you would seek only Love's peace and
Love's pleasures, then it is better for you that you cover your
nakedness and pass out of Love's threshing floor,
into the seasonless world where you shall laugh
but not all of your laughter,
and weep but not all of your tears.
Love gives naught but itself and takes naught but from itself.
Love possesses not nor would it be possessed
for Love is sufficient unto Love.
When you love you should not say "God is in my Heart."
but rather "I am in the Heart of God.'
And think not that you can direct the course of Love,
but Love, if it finds you worthy, directs your course.
Love has no other desire but to fulfill itself,
But if you love and must needs have desires,
let these be your desires:
To melt and be like a running brook
that sings its melody to the night;
to know the pain of too much tenderness;
to be wounded by your own understanding of Love;
and to bleed, willingly and joyfully,
to waken at dawn with a winged heart,
and give thanks for another day of loving,
to rest at noon and meditate on love's ecstasy,
to return home at eventide with gratitude
and to sleep with a prayer for the Beloved in your heart
and a song of praise upon your lips.
Song Of Solomon
My Beloved speaks and says to me:
" Arise, my love, my fair one, and come away;
for lo! the winter is past--the rain is over and gone.
The flowers appear on the earth,
the time of singing has come,
and the voice of the turtledove is heard in our land.
The fig tree puts forth its figs, and the vines are in blossom;
they give forth fragrance.
Arise, my love, my fair one and come away.
O my dove, in the clefts of the rock,
in the covert of the cliff,
let me see your face, let me hear your voice,
for your voice is sweet and your face is comely.
Catch us the foxes, the little foxes,
that spoil the vineyards, for our vineyards are in blossom."
My Beloved is mine and I am his,
he pastures his flocks among the lilies,
and the shadows flee,
turn, my beloved, be like a gazelle,
or a young stag upon rugged mountains.
Seasons
Ecclesiastes 3: 1-8
For everything there is a season
and a time for every matter under heaven:
a time to be born and a time to die,
a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted,
a time to kill, and a time to build up,
a time to mourn, and a time to dance,;
a time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together,
a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing,
a time to seek and a time to lose;
a time to keep, and a time to cast away,
a time to rend and a time to sew,
a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;
a time to love, and a time to hate,
a time for war, and a time for peace.
1st Corinthians 13: 1-13
If I speak in the tongues of men and even that of angels, but
have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And
if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and
all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove
mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give away
all I have, and if I deliver my body to be burned, but have
not love, I gain nothing, I gain nothing.
Love is patient and kind; Love is not jealous or boastful, it
is not arrogant or rude. Love does not insist on its own way;
it is not irritable or resentful, it does not rejoice at wrong, but
rejoices in the right. Love bears all things, believes all
things, endures all things. Love never ends.
Now abide these three: faith, hope and love---but the greatest
of all is Love.
The Song of Ruth
Entreat me not to leave thee
or to return from following after thee;
For whither thou goest, I will go;
Whither thou lodgest I will lodge.
Thy people shall be my people
and thy God my God;
Where thou diest, will I die
and there will I be buried;
The Lord do so to me, and more also,
if ought but death part thee and me.
Love's Philosophy
Percy 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;
now sister flower would be forgiven
if it disdained its brother;
And the sunlight clasp the earth,
and the moonbeams kiss the sea---
What are all these kissings worth,
if thou kiss not me?
A Reading
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 relationship 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.
The Foundation Of Marriage
Regina Hill
Love, trust and forgiveness are the foundation of marriage.
In marriage many days will bring happiness,
while other days will be sad.
But together, two hearts can overcome everything in marriage.
All the moments won't be exciting or romantic
and sometimes worries and anxiety will be overwhelming.
But together, two hearts that accept
will find comfort together.
Recollections of past joys, pain and shared feelings
will be the glue that holds everything together
during even the worst and most insecure moments,
reaching out to each other as a friend, and becoming
the confidant and companion that the other one needs,
is the true magic and beauty of any two people together.
It's inspiring in each other a dream or a feeling
and having faith in each other and not giving up
even when all the odds say to quit.
It's allowing each other to be vulnerable,
to be himself or herself, even when the opinions or thoughts
aren't in total agreement
or exactly what you'd like them to be.
It's getting involved and showing interest in each other,
really listening and being available,
the way any best friend should be..
Exactly three things need to be remembered in a marriage
if it is to be a mutual bond of sharing, caring
and loving throughout life: Love, Trust and Forgiveness.
The Most Wonderful Of All Things
In Life
Sir Hugh Walpole
The most wonderful of all things in life
is the discovery of another human being
with whom one's relationship has a growing depth,
beauty and joy as the years increase.
The inner progressiveness of love between two human beings
is a most marvelous thing;
it cannot be found by looking for it
or by passionately wishing for it.
It is a sort of divine accident,
and the most wonderful of all things in life.
Oath of Friendship
Author Unknown
I want to be your friend,
forever and ever without break or decay.
When the hills are all flat,
and the rivers are all dry;
When it lightens and thunders.
In winter when it rains and snows,
In summer when Heaven and Earth mingle;
Not till then will I part from you.
What Is Love?
Walter Rinder
Love is not just looking at each other
and saying: "You're Wonderful."
There are times when we are anything but wonderful.
Love is looking out in the same direction.
It is linking our strength to pull a common load.
It is pushing together towards the far horizons,
hand in hand.
Love is knowing that when our strength falters,
we can borrow the strength of someone who cares.
Love is a strange awareness that our sorrows will be shared
and made lighter by sharing;
that joys will be enriched and multiplied
by the joys of another.
Love is knowing someone else cares,
that we are not alone in life.
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