Readings (Page 2)
READING NO: 15
The Ivy Crown, William Carlos Williams

The whole process is a lie, unless, crowned by excess, it
break forcefully, one way or another, from its confinement-or
find a deeper well

Anthony and Cleopatra were right; they have shown the
way. I love you or I do not live at all.

Daffodil time is past.  This is summer, summer! the heart
says, and not even the full of it. No doubts are permitted-
though they will come and may before our time overwhelm
us.
We are only mortal but being mortal can defy our fate.
We may by an outside chance even win!  
We do not look to see jonquils and violets come again but
there are, still, the roses!

Romance has no part in it.  The business of love is cruelty
which, by our wills, we transform to live together.  It has its
seasons, for and against, whatever the heart fumbles in the
dark to assert toward the end of May.  
Just as the nature of briars is to tear flesh, I have proceeded.

Keep the briars out, they say.  You cannot live and keep free
of briars.
Children pick flowers.
Let them.
Though having them in hand they have no further use for
them but leave them crumpled it the curb's edge.

At our age the imagination across the sorry facts lifts us to
make roses stand before thorns.
Sure love is cruel and selfish and totally obtuse-at least,
blinded by the light, young love is.
But we are older, I to love and you to be loved, we have, no
matter how, by our wills survived to keep the jeweled prize
always at our finger tips. We will it so and so it is past, all
accident.


READING NO: 16
The Lord's Prayer: Traditional Version

Our Father which art in Heaven,
Hallowed be thy name,
Thy kingdom come,
Thy will be done on earth
As it is in Heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread
And forgive us our trespasses
As we forgive those who trespass against us.
Lead us not into temptation
But deliver us from evil.
For thine is the kingdom, the power and the glory,
For ever and ever.
Amen.


READING NO: 17
The Lords Prayer Modern Version

Our Father in heaven,
Holy be your name.
Your kingdom come,
Your will be done on earth as in heaven.
Give us today our daily bread.
Forgive our sins
As we forgive those who sin against us.
Save us at the time of trial
And deliver us from evil.
For the kingdom, the power and the glory
Are yours now and ever more.
Amen.

READING NO: 18
The Desiderata

Go placidly amid the noise and haste
And remember what peace there may be in silence.
Be yourself, especially do not feign affection.
Neither be cynical about love, for in the face of all aridity
and disenchantment it is perennial as the grass.
Be gentle with yourselves.
You are the children of the universe
No less than the trees and stars.
Be at peace with God
Whatever you conceive Him to be
And whatever your labors and aspirations.
In the noisy confusion of life
Keep peace with your souls.


READING NO: 19
Blessing

All praise and blessing to you, God of love,
Creator of the universe,
Maker of man and woman in your likeness,
Source of blessing for married life.
All praise to you, for you have created
Courtship and marriage,
Joy and gladness,
Feasting and laughter,
Pleasure and delight.
May your blessing come in full upon
(Groom’s Name) and (Bride’s Name)
May they know your presence in their joys and sorrows.
May they reach old age in the company of friends
And come at last to your eternal kingdom.
Amen.


READING NO: 20
A Reading from the New Testament

1 Corinthians 13:4-8 and 13, J.B. Philips translation
Love is slow to lose patience... It looks for a way of being
constructive. It is not possessive... It is neither anxious to
impress, nor does it cherish inflated ideas of its own
importance. Love has good manners, and does not pursue
selfish advantage. It is not touchy... It does not keep account
of evil, or gloat over the wickedness of other people.
On the contrary, it is glad when truth prevails. Love knows
no limits to its endurance,  no end to its trust,  no fading of
its hope. It can outlast anything. It is in fact the one thing that
still stands when all else is fallen. In this life we have three
great lasting qualities: faith, hope and love...But the greatest
is love.

READING NO: 21
The Prophet  (fuller Version), Kahlil Gibran

Then Almitra spoke again and said:
And what of marriage, master?
And he answered, saying:
You were born together, and together you shall be for
evermore,
Aye, you shall be together even in the silent memory of God,
But let there be spaces in your togetherness, and let the
winds of heaven
dance between you. Love one another, but make not a bond
of love;
Let it rather be a moving sea between the shore 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 control 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.


READING NO: 22
The Master Speed, on the occasion of his daughter's
wedding, Robert Frost

No speed of wind or water rushing by
But you have speed far greater. You can climb
Back up a stream of radiance to the sky,
And back through history up the stream of time.
And you were given this swiftness, not for haste,
Nor chiefly that you may go where you will,
But in the rush of everything to waste,
That you may have the power of standing still
Off any still or moving thing you say.
Two such as you with such a master speed
Cannot be parted nor be swept away
From one another once you are agreed
That life is only life for evermore
Together wing to wing and oar to oar.


READING NO: 23
The Gift of Friendship, Helen Steiner Rice

Friendship is a priceless gift that cannot be bought or sold,
But its value is far greater than a mountain made of gold.
For gold is cold and lifeless, it can neither see nor hear,
And in the times of trouble it is powerless to cheer.
It has no ears to listen, no heart to understand.
It cannot bring you comfort or reach out a helping hand.
So when you ask God for a gift, be thankful if he sends
Not diamonds, pearls or riches, but the love of real true
friends.
Friends, Today I will marry my best friend
The one I have laughed and cried with, The one I have
learned from
and shared with, The one I have chosen to support,
encourage and
give myself to through all these days God has given us to
share.


READING NO: 24
from Notes to Myself, Hugh Prather

For communication to have meaning it must have a life.
It must transcend “you and me” and become “us”.
If I truly communicate, I see you in a life that is not me and
become part of it. And you see and partake of me. In a small
way we grow out of our old selves and become something
new.

To have this kind of sharing I cannot enter a conversation
clutching myself. I must enter it with loose boundaries. I
must give myself to the relationship and be willing to be
what grows out of it.


READING NO: 25
A Tender Message, Frank Herbert Sweet

If you have a tender message Or a loving word to say
Do not wait until you forget it, But whisper it today;
The tender word unspoken, The letter never sent,
The long-forgotten messages,
The wealth of love unspent--
For these some hearts are breaking, For these some loved
ones wait;
So show me that you care for them Before it is too late.


READING NO: 26
The Owl and the Pussy Cat, Edward Lear

The Owl and the Pussy-Cat went to sea
In a beautiful pea-green boat.
They took some honey, and plenty of money,
Wrapped up in a five-pound note.
The Owl looked up to the stars above
And sang to a small guitar,
'O lovely Pussy! O Pussy, my love,
What a beautiful Pussy you are.'

Pussy said to the Owl, 'You elegant fowl!
How charmingly sweet you sing!
O let us be married! Too long we have tarried:
But what shall we do for a ring?'
They sailed away for a year and a day,
To the land where the bong-tree grows,
And there in the wood a Piggy-wig stood
With a ring at the end of his nose.
His nose, his nose,
With a ring at the end of his nose.

“Dear Pig, are you willing to sell for one shilling Your ring?”
Said the Pig, “I will”.
So they took it away, and were married next day By the
turkey who lives in the hill.
They dined on mince, and slices of quince, Which they ate
with a runcible spoon;
And hand in hand, on the edge of the sand, They danced by
the light of the moon,
The moon, the moon, They danced by the light of the moon.
Hudson Valley Ceremonies