Especially privileged was I, when Paula and Mark asked if I would write a poem to be read at the wedding. Which is a beautiful opportunity to put down in words some of what the goodness of marriage and choosing someone who you can build a life with, can be.
The image of a garden seems appropriate – we don’t marry because we’ve discovered something beautiful, but because we want to create something beautiful.
So this is the poem that I wrote and read for my darling friends.
A Garden.
Today, my love – I am giving you a meadow.
A meadow is a wonderful place to begin something new.
We have seen this full run of seasons;
summer, autumn, winter and spring
passed over in each other’s eyes, held hand in hand
I know what seasons look like on your face
I am comforted, I am hopeful, I am sure.
So now in this summer, I give you a meadow
full of wildflower, full of promise
so we may begin in earnest.
Let me tell you – how I want to build you a garden here,
A corner devoted to each season –
There daffodils in spring, here falling leaves for autumn
From an oak tree that bends but cannot break in winter storms.
And every year, roses in summer
Blooming over and over, recounting the fragrance
by which I loved you first, and love you now.
I long to see the trees grow older and take their shape
Against the prevailing wind provide some shelter
For each sacred herb and flower, that may feed us
And to sit at the end of day beside you, always beside you.
Let us be entwined together, anchored securely in this earth
Never one removed from the other,
each bringing life to the other.
Today I am giving you a meadow,
Tomorrow I am making you a garden.
On sharing a poem that has been shared with the world
This poem will always be Mark and Paula’s but I share it gladly, as do they. The only request is that you let me know so I can share in the joy of knowing how these words spread love and joy.
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