A short selection of poems for weddings and vow renewals. Poetry is always a very personal choice. 

 

 

 

Extract from ‘My Lighthouse’, by Pulp

Come up to my lighthouse for I have something I wish to say

It can wait for a moment; well in fact it can wait all day

I just wanted to bring you up here so you could have the chance to see

the beauty of this situation that you could share with me

It may seem strange to talk of love and then lighthouses

It’s not strange to me

All alone, you and I in our look out

That’s the way to be

Marriage quotes collated – anon.

The more you invest in a marriage, the more valuable it becomes.

Newlyweds, become oldy weds, and oldy weds are the reasons that families work.

A successful marriage requires falling in love many times, always with the same person.

Marriages are made in heaven.

But so are thunder, lightning, tornadoes and hail.

Marriage is the alliance of two people, one of whom never remembers birthdays and the other who never forgets them.

Happy marriages begin when we marry the ones we love, and they blossom when we love the ones we marry.

Never go to bed mad; stay up and fight.

The secret to a good marriage is understanding that it must be total, it must be permanent and it must be equal.

Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance.

A heart in love hears music, even when there is silence.

Marriage is more than finding the right person;
it is also being the right person.

 

Marriage – Anon

Marriage is about giving and taking

And forgoing and forsaking

Kissing and loving and pushing and shoving

Caring and sharing and screaming and swearing

About being together whatever the weather

About being driven to the end of your tether

About sweetness and kindness

And wisdom and blindness

 

It’s about being strong when you’re feeling quite weak

It’s about saying nothing when your about to speak

It’s about being wrong when you know you are right

It’s about giving in before there’s a fight

It’s about you two living as cheaply as one

(you can give us a call if you know how that’s done!)

 

Never heeding advice that was always well-meant

Never counting the cost until it’s all spent

And for you two today it’s about to begin

And for all that the two of you had to put in

Some days filled with joy, and some days with sadness

Too late you’ll discover that marriage is madness

All I Ever Really Needed to Know, I Learned in Kindergarten by Robert Fulgham

All of what I really need to know about how to live, and what to do, and how to be, I learned in kindergarten.

Wisdom was not at the top of the graduate school mountain, but there in the sandbox at nursery school.

These are the things I learned…

Share everything.

Play fair.

Don’t hit people.

Put things back where you found them.

Clean up your own mess.

Don’t take things that aren’t yours.

Say sorry when you hurt somebody.

Wash your hands before you eat.

Always remember, to flush.

Warm cookies and cold milk are good for you. Give them to someone who feels sad.

Live a balanced life.

Learn some and think some; draw and paint, sing and dance, play and work every day.

Take a nap every afternoon.

Be aware of awe and wonder.

Remember the little seed in the plastic cup? The roots go down and the plant goes up and nobody really knows how or why, but we are all like that.

Everything you need to know is in there somewhere.

And it is still true, no matter how old you are, when you go out into the world, it is best to hold hands and stick together.

 

Maybe ~ anon

Maybe… We are supposed to meet the wrong people before meeting the right one so that, when we finally meet the right person, we will know how to be grateful for that gift.

Maybe… it is true that we don’t know what we have got until we lose it, but it is also true that we don’t know what we have been missing until it arrives.

Maybe… the happiest of people don’t necessarily have the best of everything; they just make the most of everything that comes along their way.

Maybe… the best kind of love is the kind you can sit on a sofa together and never say a word, and then walk away feeling like it was the best conversation you’ve ever had.

Maybe… you shouldn’t go for looks; they can deceive. Don’t go for wealth; even that fades away. Go for someone who makes you smile, because it takes only a smile to make a dark day seem bright.

Maybe… you should hope for enough happiness to make you sweet, enough trials to make you strong, enough sorrow to keep you human, and enough hope to make you happy.

Maybe… Love is not about finding the perfect person, it’s about learning to see an imperfect person perfectly.

 

Advice after If by Ross Lang

So, now you have become a man,

you see the road is not yet run;

for today two paths become entwined,

two people become one;

This is the start of life together,

And your journey’s just beginning;

And at it’s heart this life’s a game,

Now I offer you advice for winning:

If you can share your thoughts when they weigh heavy,

and listen close when words are few;

and know when silence is a virtue,

and how to sense an embrace is due;

If you can spend your time and save your pennies,

to enrich your present and your future shared;

and know when moments lived are greater,

than deadlines missed or meetings chaired;

If you can put aside your wants and needs,

and put the other first;

and stand together side by side,

through the best times and the worst

If you can mind you’re not alone,

With friend and kin to guide you;

And know as family that we care,

and trust we’ll always be beside you;

If you can fill your time on Earth,

with love in each and every minute;

then this game called life is yours,

because together, you will win it!

 

Scaffolding ~ Seamus Heaney

Masons, when they start upon a building,
Are careful to test out the scaffolding;

Make sure that planks won’t slip at busy points,
Secure all ladders, tighten bolted joints.

And yet all this comes down when the job’s done
Showing off walls of sure and solid stone.

So if, my dear, there sometimes seem to be
Old bridges breaking between you and me

Never fear. We may let the scaffolds fall
Confident that we have built our wall