Nice reading/poem??

linzz_2

Is anyone having a reading or poem as part of their civil ceremony? I've had a quick look online but all the poems seem a bit cheesey!

Any suggestions of any readings/poems or a good website to find one would be fab.

*MF*

I always believe that poetry, how, and if it speaks to you, is a very personal thing.

Offer you these two, the second being imho, less smaltzy, and yes longer - but perhaps pertinent for two people starting their life together ... the infinite possibilities of the future - everything to believe in ... but as I say, whether they speak to you is a very personal thing.

***************************************

Had I the heavens' embroidered cloths,
Enwrought with golden and silver light,
The blue and the dim and the dark cloths
Of night and light and the half-light,
I would spread the cloths under your feet:
But I, being poor, have only my dreams;
I have spread my dreams under your feet;
Tread softly because you tread on my dreams.

... W B Yeats

*********************************************

I'm Alive, I Believe In Everything

Self. Brotherhood. God. Zeus. Communism.
Capitalism. Buddha. Vinyl records.
Baseball. Ink. Trees. Cures for disease.
Saltwater. Literature. Walking. Waking.
Arguments. Decisions. Ambiguity. Absolutes.
Presence. Absence. Positive and Negative.
Empathy. Apathy. Sympathy and entropy.
Verbs are necessary. So are nouns.
Empty skies. Dark vacuums of night.
Visions. Revisions. Innocence.
I've seen All the empty spaces yet to be filled.
I've heard All of the sounds that will collect
at the end of the world.
And the silence that follows.

I'm alive, I believe in everything
I'm alive, I believe in it all.

Waves lapping on the shore.
Skies on fire at sunset.
Old men dancing on the streets.
Paradox and possibility.
Sense and sensibility.
Cold logic and half truth.
Final steps and first impressions.
Fools and fine intelligence.
Chaos and clean horizons.
Vague notions and concrete certainty.
Optimism in the face of adversity.

I'm alive, I believe in everything
I'm alive, I believe in it all.

... Lesley Choyce

toniwoty2009

i'm having the same problem! everything is far too mushy - which is just not us! i've been thinking of perhaps finding some nice song lyrics and having someone read those?
HTH

beckstrous

Hi, I know what you mean about some stuff being too mushy. I'm not a cheesy person but I do like poetry (English Lit graduate!).

We are also having a civil ceremony and have chosen this one to be read first:

Sonnet 116


Let me not to the marriage of true minds
Admit impediment. 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 not shaken;
It is the star to every wandering bark
Whose worth's unknown, although his height be taken.
Loves 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 proved,
I never write nor no man ever loved.


William Shakespeare

And this one to be read after the actual marriage part:

If

If you can always be as close
And as happy as today
Yet be secure enough to grow
And change along the way
If you can keep for you alone
Your love as man and wife
Yet find the time to share your joy
With others in your life
If you can be as one
And walk through marriage hand in hand,
Yet still support the goals and dreams
That each of you had planned
If you can dare to always go
Your separate ways together
Then all the wonder of today
Will stay with you forever.

Larry S Chengges

My aunt and cousin will be reading them. :T

esuhl

I'm not sure if he's written anything that would be appropriate, but Felix Dennis has a few great poetry books out that are FAR from cheesy.

LydiaSophia

I got given loads from the registry office when we booked up, I laughed out loud when I read some of them far far far to mushy. I don't think we will bother.

Or if we do will have to look very carefully.

Be careful though cos no religious content is allowed at all.

gypsyroseloz

My Dad & Step Mum had The Owl & The !!!!!cat!
It was nice! (IMHO!)

HTH

Blinkin 'eck! P U S S Y C A T!!!!

MsChazzer

Most libraries should have anthologies of love poems, my local one has an anthology of wedding ones too, might be a good place to try?

linzz_2

Thanks for all your thoughts and ideas.

Beckstrous, I love the second one and might use that one, hope you don't mind!

When we read through the marriage ceremony booklet it looked so short we thought we could do with a poem or two just to make it last a little longer!!

I found a short poem that I was hoping our 5 year old could learn and recite (if she wasn't too nervous!)

'From this day forward
You shall not walk alone
My heart shall be your shelter
And my arms will be your home'

Short and sweet, I thought but maybe have a longer one too.

skintchick

There are loads but here is our secular one:

The Blessing of the Hands, revised by Rev. Daniel L Harris

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, as today, tears of joy. These are the hands that will tenderly hold your children, 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 you the same unspoken tenderness with just a touch.

paddingtondoo

We had this discussion last night.
OH wants to make the ceremony as quick and painless as possible (so he can get to the bar so he said) so we're not having any.

Offered to cancel so he had more money to spend on beer :rotfl: