POEMS & READINGS for Weddings

A selection of ideas and inspiration for wedding poems and readings.

On Marriage ~ Kahil Gibran

Love one another, but make not a 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.

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.

Pablo Neruda

LOVE - the pure Language of the World. Paulo Coelho, from The Alchemist

It required no explanation, just as the universe needs none as it travels through endless time. What he felt at that moment was that he was in the presence of the only woman in his life, and that, with no need for words, she recognized the same thing. He was more certain of it than of anything in the world. He had been told by his parents and grandparents that he must fall in love and really know a person before becoming committed. But maybe people who felt that way had never learned the universal language. Because, when you know that language, it’s easy to understand that someone in the world awaits you, whether it’s in the middle of the desert or in some great city. And when two such people encounter each other, and their eyes meet, the past and the future become unimportant. There is only that moment, and the incredible certainty that everything under the sun has been written by one hand only. It is the hand that evokes love, and creates a twin soul for every person in the world. Without such love, one’s dreams would have no meaning.

I Need You ~ John Hegley (adapted)

I need you,

I need you like a novel needs a plot.

Like a calendar needs a week.

Like a colander needs a leak.

Like people need to seek out what life on Mars is.

Like hospitals need vases.

I need you.

I need you like a zoo needs a giraffe.

I need you like a hiker needs a path.

I need you like King Arthur needed a table.

I need you

I need you like bone needs marrow.

I need you like a bow needs an arrow.

I need you like a cappuccino needs froth.

I need you like a candle needs a moth

I need you.

Let love ~ Tara Dominick 

Let love be ever present in your being

Let love be ever kinder in your meaning

Let love be ever gracious in your giving

Let love be ever thankful in your receiving

Let love be ever playful in your smiling 

Let love be ever sacred in your seeing

Let love be ever healing in your hearing 

Let love be ever sweeter in your sensing

Let love be ever softer in your feeling 

Let love be ever brighter in your glowing

Let love be ever wiser in your thinking

Let love be ever creative in your dreaming

Let love be ever happy in your knowing

Present in your being

Kinder in your meaning

Gracious in your giving

Thankful in your receiving

Playful in your smiling 

Sacred in your seeing

Healing in your hearing 

Sweeter in your sensing

Softer in your feeling 

Brighter in your glowing 

Creative in your dreaming 

Wiser in your thinking

Happy in your knowing

If the stars were mine - Melody Gardot

If the stars were mine, I'd give them all to you
I'd pluck them down right from the sky and leave it only blue
I would never let the sun forget to shine upon your face
So when others would have rain clouds, you'd have only sunny days
If the stars were mine, I'd tell you what I'd do
I'd put the stars right in a jar and give them all to you

If the birds were mine, I'd tell them when to sing
I'd make them sing a sonnet when your telephone would ring
I would put them there inside the square, whenever you went out
So there'd always be sweet music whenever you would walk about
If the birds were mine, I'd tell you what I'd do
I'd teach the birds such lovely words and make them sing for you
I'd teach the birds such lovely words and make them sing for you

If the world was mine, I'd paint it gold and green
I'd make the oceans orange for a brilliant color scheme
I would color all the mountains, make the sky forever blue
So the world would be a painting and I'd live inside with you

If the world was mine, I'd tell you what I'd do
I'd wrap the world in ribbons and then give it all to you
I'd teach the birds such lovely words and make them sing for you
I'd put those stars right in a jar and...
Give them all, to you...

Love me when I’m old and shocking ~ Bee Rawson

Love me when I’m old and shocking

Peel off my elastic stockings

Swing me from the chandeliers

Let’s be randy bad old dears.

Push around my chromed Bath Chair

Let me tease your white chest hair

Scaring children, swapping dentures

Let us have some great adventures

Take me to the dogs and bingo

Teach me how to speak the lingo

Bone my eels and bring me tea

Show me how it’s meant to be

Take me to your special places

Watching all the puzzled faces

You in shorts and socks and sandals

Me with warts and huge love-handles

As the need for love enthrals

Wrestle with my damp-proof smalls

Make me laugh without constraint

Buy me chocolate body paint

Hold me safe throughout the night

When my hair has turned to white

Believe me when I say it’s true

I’ve waited all my life for you.