Poetry is an expression of the soul, the heart and the mind.

Readings bring focus and sets a theme in a  ceremony

Be inspired!

I have collected hundreds of poems, readings and songs and listed them in categories to help you find the right one, for the right occasion.

Love, inspiration, friendship, loss, joy, and many expressions of emotion.

Some are my own originals. Others have been chosen but love has a language of its own and so if you don’t find something on this page, try any of these links:

The index below has the categories and titles or just press CTRL F on your keyboard and search for a word or subject.

Search also, my blog, or my Facebook page or maybe even write your own.

If you still don’t find what you want here, or have a poem or reading to contribute, please let me know.

NB: Private Ceremonies and functions carry copyright exemption however I cite the author wherever known, and this collation holds its own copyright 2018-2022. I also subscribe to Copyright membership via Celebrancy associations.

A Life Celebrant – Lou Szymkow

Friendly, professional, reliable, helpful, approachable.

 +61 (0) 457 00 1922
lou@alifecelebrant.com.au

   

A celebrant for all special occasions in your journey of life.

Your Life Events: Weddings, Renewals, Commitments; Naming Ceremonies; Memorials, Funerals, & More

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Contents

ABORIGINAL – INDIGENOUS

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT OF COUNTRY

AVIATION

BEAUTIFUL WOMAN

BIBLE READINGS FOR WEDDINGS

BIRDS

BLESSINGS – NON-RELIGIOUS

BLESSINGS – Religious

BOATS & SAILING

BUDHISM

BUSH & COUNTRY

CARS & CAR LOVERS

CATS

CHILDREN – items that could be read by Children

DINOSAURS. 

DOGS

FAMILY

FIRST LOVE

FISHING

FUNNY

GRACE – Prayers before a meal at your reception

HINDU

INDIGENOUS

IRISH BLESSINGS

JUDAISM

LIFE

LORD OF THE RINGS & HOBBITS

LOVE

MARRIAGE

MARRYING AGAIN (Second Marriage)

MOVIES (Excerpts from movies)

MULTICULTURAL

NERDS & SCIENCE

OLD STYLE

PARENT – Reading by a parent

PARTNERS IN MARRIAGE

POLISH LINKS

QUOTES

REFLECTION & EDUCATION

RELIGIOUS (BIBLICAL) READINGS FOR WEDDINGS

SCIENCE FICTION

SPECIAL INTEREST POEM

STAR TREK

SUPPORTING EACH OTHER

UNITY

WELCOME TO COUNTRY

WISDOM

OTHER SOURCES & IDEAS

  • more soon

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“Love recognizes no barriers. It jumps hurdles, leaps fences, penetrates walls to arrive at its destination full of hope.” Maya Angelou

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT OF COUNTRY

Welcome to Country and an Acknowledgement of Country both recognise the unique position of Aboriginal/Indigenous people in Australian culture and history and show respect for Aboriginal people. Both protocols precede an activity.

Acknowledgement of Country’ by Jonathan Hill

Jonathan Hill is an indigenous poet living in New South Wales.

Today we stand in footsteps millennia old.
May we acknowledge the traditional owners
whose cultures and customs have nurtured,
and continue to nurture, this land,
since men and women
awoke from the great dream.
We honour the presence of these ancestors
who reside in the imagination of this land
and whose irrepressible spirituality
flows through all creation.

Blue Mountains & south-eastern New South Wales, including Camden, Goulburn and the Southern Highlands:

  1. I would like to acknowledge that the Gundangara people who were the original custodians of the land on which we meet today. We pay our respects to elders past and present, and acknowledge the aboriginal people for their custodianship of this land.…or
  2. Before we begin proceedings, I would like to acknowledge the Traditional Custodians of the land on which we meet today, the Gundangara, I would like to pay my respects to the Elders past, present and future and pay my respects to all Aboriginal People here today, wherever you may come from.

Map

This map will help in identifying the ‘country’ :  aboriginal map of Australia
More information can be obtained from Aboriginal Land Councils

Nepean and Blacktown areas including Narangyngy

  1. I would like to acknowledge that the Darug people who were the original custodians of the land on which we meet today. We pay our respects to elders past and present, and acknowledge the aboriginal people for their custodianship of this land.… or
  2. Before we begin proceedings, I would like to acknowledge the Traditional Custodians of the land on which we meet today, the Darug people. I would like to pay my respects to the Elders past, present and future and pay my respects to all Aboriginal People here today, wherever you may come from.

Requirement

Only an Elder from the locality can offer a ‘Welcome to Country’ but others may offer an Acknowledgement of Country.
There is no legal requirement but it is respectful to offer an acknowledgment.

Samples As A Guide:

  1. Before we begin proceedings, I would like to acknowledge the Traditional Owners of the land on which we meet today (Include the name of the People and their Nation here). I would like to pay my respects to the Elders past, present and future and pay my respects to all Aboriginal People here today, wherever you may come from.
  2. I would like to acknowledge the _________________________ people, who are the traditional custodians of this land. I would also like to pay my respects to Elders past and present of the ___________________ nation, and I extend that respect to other indigenous people who are present.
  3. I would like to acknowledge the traditional custodians of the land on which we meet today and pay my respects to the Elders past and present.
  4. I would like to acknowledge that we meet on Aboriginal land, the land of the  ____________________ people of the ___________________ nation. I like to pay respect to their Elders past and present.

Shoalhaven & South Coast

  1. I would like to acknowledge that the Djuwin (Yuin) people who were the original custodians of the land on which we meet today, We pay our respects to elders past and present, and acknowledge the Aboriginal people for their custodianship of this land.… or
  2. Before we begin proceedings, I would like to acknowledge the Traditional Custodians of the land on which we meet today, the Djuwin (Yuin). I would like to pay my respects to the Elders past, present and future and pay my respects to all Aboriginal People here today, wherever you may come from.
  3. I begin by acknowledging that we meet today on the unceded lands of the, Djuwin (Yuin) people who have a deep spiritual connection with their country, and I acknowledge others across whose lands we have travelled to be here today. I pay my respects to the Elders past, present and future for their wisdom and knowledge, and I offer my respect to all Aboriginal People here today, from wherever you have travelled.
  4. I’d like to begin by acknowledging that we meet today on the unceded lands of the, Djuwin (Yuin) people and acknowledge others across whose lands we have travelled. I pay my respects to the Elders past, present and future for their wisdom and knowledge, and I offer my respect to all Aboriginal People here today, wherever you may come from.

AVIATION

The Winds Will Carry You

By C. JoyBell C

I have come to accept the feeling of not knowing where I am going.
And I have trained myself to love it.
Because it is only when we are suspended in mid-air with no landing in sight, that we force our wings to unravel and alas begin our flight.
And as we fly, we still may not know where we are going to.
But the miracle is in the unfolding of the wings.
You may not know where you’re going,
but you know that so long as you spread your wings,
the winds will carry you.

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BEAUTIFUL WOMAN

A Beautiful Woman

by Gregory Huyette

A beautiful woman is a sight to behold…
More exciting than diamonds;
Much classier than gold.

Radiant hair and eyes of pure steel
Adorn a body of curvaceous appeal.
Each word spoken awakens luscious lips
That hypnotize all with their scarlet tips.

A beautiful woman is an ageless creature,
Defying time’s mutiny with every feature.
If all earthly riches were gathered and sold,
They would have scant chance copying her mold.
But a mirror on the wall and a positive mind
Show a beautiful woman is for each to find.

A Truly Beautiful Woman

By Charles Allen Johnson, 2005

There are very few women in the world
who have been truly beautiful.  Very few.
When you look for that beautiful woman
you must look deeper then her physical
beauty.  You must look past her many physical
attributes, past the shape of her body
the curve of her hip and the way that she
responds to pleasure.  Past even her attentiveness
to your needs, her response to your advances.

You must look deeper inside.

When you look at her mind, you must see the beauty of
her intellect, the power of her mental essence,
the love that she radiates, and that special
person that she is.

But, even that is not deep enough.

You must look to her personality, that which has
been forged through the fires of life, the
rigors of hardships, and the pain of physical
challenges.  That personality which reflects
in her eyes, and will glow with its shining life.
It will be like a star, that in the evening filament
twinkles and the humour of her personality will
flicker into your awareness with joyous abandon.

But, even that is not deep enough.

You must pass even her personality to reach into
her heart.  Her heart must beat with a passion,
she must pulse with love.  Her blood must flow
carrying to her fingertips the messages
of her love.  Written in tender touches for you alone.

Even that is not deep enough to discover the truly
beautiful person.

To be truly beautiful, to really surpass all others,
you must glance into her soul.  Surrounded by her aura,
cradled in her essence, this is the place of true beauty.
Its reflection sharper then the calmest waters of a fountain.
A soul of true spirituality.  Its here that beauty is truly
found.  Forever tranquil, in the endless memories that
each time you meet her impress themselves into your heart.

Most Beautiful Woman In The World

by Ruwaida Van Doorsen

She has no special talent
No special beauty mark
No invention with a patent
No voice of a comely lark

No hourglass physique
No sunbeam likened smile
No lingering mystique
No manicured nails to file

But what she had she flaunted
With the style of a fur- lined stole
With the chic of a runway model
She flashed her beautiful soul

Perfect Woman

By William Wordsworth – 1770-1850

She was a phantom of delight
When first she gleam’d upon my sight;
A lovely apparition, sent
To be a moment’s ornament;
Her eyes as stars of twilight fair;
Like twilight’s, too, her dusky hair;
But all things else about her drawn
From May-time and the cheerful dawn;
A dancing shape, an image gay,
To haunt, to startle, and waylay.

I saw her upon nearer view,
A Spirit, yet a Woman too!
Her household motions light and free,
And steps of virgin liberty;
A countenance in which did meet
Sweet records, promises as sweet;
A creature not too bright or good
For human nature’s daily food;
For transient sorrows, simple wiles,
Praise, blame, love, kisses, tears, and smiles.

And now I see with eye serene
The very pulse of the machine;
A being breathing thoughtful breath,
A traveller between life and death;
The reason firm, the temperate will,
Endurance, foresight, strength, and skill;
A perfect Woman, nobly plann’d,
To warn, to comfort, and command;
And yet a Spirit still, and bright
With something of angelic light.

The Beauty Of A Woman

(Authorship is variously attributed to the following authors: Maya Angelou, Ralph Fenger, Audrey Hepburn & Sam Levenson)

The beauty of a woman Is not in the clothes she wears,
The figure that she carries, Or the way she combs her hair.
The beauty of a woman must be seen from in her eyes,
Because that is the doorway to her heart, the place where love resides.
The beauty of a woman is not in a facial mole,
But true beauty in a woman Is reflected in her soul.
It is the caring that she lovingly gives,
The passion that she shows,
And the beauty of a woman
With passing years only grows.

The Most Beautiful Woman

By Michael P. McParland

Without a doubt you are the most
beautiful woman I have ever known,
my heart sighs and sings every time
I see and think about you my great
Angel Queen of delight.

You are the most beautiful woman
on this earth today or any other time.
You are the definition of beauty
in my eyes and mind.
Your shining eyes and beaming smile,
long flowing hair and a gorgeous body.
Topped off with the most important thing
a beautiful heart and soul with an intelligent mind.
You are the most beautiful woman my only one.

I am in awe and pure admiration of
all the beauty that you are and carry,
no other can come close to the Angelic
beauty that you are my sweet lady.
You’re one of a kind and Gods crowning achievement.
You’re the most beautiful woman that can be imagined.

You truly are the most beautiful woman
in my eyes and heart,
everything about you ignites a spark.
I’m in awe and truly love every part of you,

you’re my Queen and Angel,
my best friend and true soul mate.
You’re the most beautiful woman I’ve ever
known and I want to spend my life with you
standing at your side hand in hand forever and ever.

BIRDS

The Wings of Love

Copyright ©2010 Leslie Alexis

If I could travel on the wings of love
Tonight, I would adorn with kisses
My lovely misses,
Then we would fly to the moon
Where I would become your groom
And you, my bride.

O if I could ride
On the wings of love
We’d honeymoon on Saturn,
With stars as our lanterns,
We’d walk the milky way
And fall into the sky;
Watching comets fly by
we would make wishes
while sharing kisses..

Riding the wings of love
In a race against light
To touch first your cheeks,
I would win by weeks;
Falling in with my lips
Into a perfect eclipse;
Your celestial gaze
Making merry my days,

Upon the wings of love
I would stay forever
And draw me a river
From love’s own stream
To never end the dream
Of a perfect life
With you my wife.

Upon the wings of love,
Upon the wings of love,
Upon the wings of love,
Fly with me!
Upon the wings of love…

BLESSINGS – NON-RELIGIOUS

Apache Wedding Blessing

By non-indigenous author Elliot Arnold, (1947 novel Blood Brothers, in the film 1950 adaptation Broken Arrow – the poem has no indigenous origin)

Now you will feel no storms,
for each of you will be shelter to the other.
Now you will feel no cold,
for each of you will be warmth to the other.
Now there is no loneliness,
for each of you is companion to the other,
You are two persons,
but there is one life before you, and one home.
Turn together to look at the road you travelled,
to reach this—the hour of your happiness.
It stretches behind you into the past.
Look to the future that lies ahead.
A long and winding, adventure-filled road,
whose every turn means discovery,
new hopes, new joys, new laughter,
and a few shared tears.
May happiness be your companion,
May beauty surround you both in the journey ahead;
And through all the years to come.
Go this day to your dwelling place
and enter into your days together.
May your days be good and long
upon the earth.
Your adventure has just begun!

Blessing For A Marriage

by James Dillet Freeman

May your marriage bring you all the exquisite excitements a marriage should bring, and may life grant you also patience, tolerance, and understanding.
May you always need one another — not so much to fill your emptiness as to help you to know your fullness.
A mountain needs a valley to be complete.
The valley does not make the mountain less, but more.
And the valley is more a valley because it has a mountain towering over it.
So let it be with you and you.
May you need one another, but not out of weakness.
May you want one another, but not out of lack.
May you entice one another, but not compel one another.
May you embrace one another, but not out encircle one another.
May you succeed in all-important ways with one another, and not fail in the little graces.
May you look for things to praise, often say, “I love you!” and take no notice of small faults.
If you have quarrels that push you apart, may both of you hope to have good sense enough to take the first step back.
May you enter into the mystery that is the awareness of one another’s presence — no more physical than spiritual, warm and near when you are side by side, and warm and near when you are in separate rooms or even distant cities.
May you have happiness, and may you find it making one another happy.
May you have love, and may you find it loving one another.

May This Day Shine Eternally

May this day shine eternally in your lives.
May it add brilliance to every achievement and cast a precious light over any misfortune.
May you care for each other in all sadness.
May you give great happiness to each other.
May you give vitality to each other in all undertakings.
May all that is virtuous, beautiful and honest, remain with you always
May this transition in your lives bring you, great adventure and fulfillment
May you weather all, together, and always find boundless joy in each other

Blessing of the Hands (adapted)

(adapted from the reading “Blessing of the Hands by Rev. Daniel L. Harris)

May these hands always be held by one another.
May they have strength to hold on through the storms of stress and the darkness of disillusionment.
May they be tender and gentle as they nurture each other in love.
May these hands build a marriage founded in grace, and in care, reaching together to bring forth the very best in both.
May these hands always be held by one another and together, building a truly wonderful marriage.
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 tears of joy.
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.

Blessing of the Hands

(adapted from the reading “Blessing of the Hands 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 tears of joy.
These are the hands that will tenderly hold your children.
These are 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.

BLESSINGS – Religious

A Father’s Marriage Blessing

Written by Jeff Herringshaw
(see http://www.beliefnet.com/columnists/prayerplainandsimple/2016/06/a-fathers-marriage-blessing.html#DqYDCMwDGMISTb4y.99)

May you both know the security of being fully known, fully accepted and fully loved.
May you discover the richness of commitment. By saying “Yes” to each other you have said “No” to so many other things.
May you focus on what you do have now and not on what you’ve let go of. Search out the hidden treasure buried deep within your promises to each other.
May you discover the difference between finding happiness in your spouse and walking out a joy-filled life together.
May you be able to say in the end that marriage made you each a better person.
And may you find your true identity not in each other but in your heavenly Father’s claim on you as His children. Neither of you are your own.
May you live out your lives and your marriage for something greater than yourselves, knowing that true joy can come only as you look beyond your own needs and concerns and live for Jesus.
May God show you that He is always with you.
Amen

Catholic Wedding Blessing

Lord bless this beautiful couple with love and hope we pray.
Keep alive forever more the vows they’ve pledged today.
May you bless their dreams and visions,
And keep them always safe.
May peace and joy be with them now
On this their wedding day.

Christian Wedding Blessing – Filled with Prayer

Almighty God, we ask for your blessings upon this couple in their marriage.
Let all their days together be happy and all their words to each other be sweet.
Though their paths are intertwined, let them be aware of each other’s separateness. Bless their home and allow it to be a place of joy and serenity.
Remind them to nurture each other’s body with mutual love, honour and respect.  Let their spirits dwell within.
As they learn from one another, may they grow stronger as individuals and closer as a couple.
And as their wedded life be filled with prayer
Amen.

Christian Wedding Blessing – Love & Patience

Gracious God, spirit of life and love, we ask all blessings upon Groom and Bride in their life together.
May they be blessed with patience, to see them through times of tensions or conflict.
May they be blessed with kindness, to enable them to nurture and care for one another in times of pain or sorrow.
May they be blessed with a spirit of play and joyfulness, that they may participate fully in the beauties and pleasures of creation.
May they be blessed, finally, with a knowledge of the ever-flowing presence of love in the world, that they may be channels of this love to one another and to all whom they meet in their life’s journey.
Amen.

Christian Wedding Blessing – Prayerful Blessing

Let us pray.  God, we ask for your blessings upon this man and woman, as we celebrate this momentous occasion in their lives.
Grant them happiness and contentment as they establish their new home, create a new family and explore the depths of their love for one another and for you.
Bless their families and friends and the relationships, which have supported, strengthened and sustained them throughout their lives.
Bless their home as a place of love and of peace.
And if times grow hard and tempers grow short, help them to look into their hearts and remember the love that brought them here today
Amen.

Christian Wedding Blessing – Rejoice

May God bless you now and always
Guiding you throughout your lives
Rejoice in your love for each other and in God’s love for you
So that you may always be showered abundantly in love, joy, and happiness.
Rejoice in your love for each other!

Gratitude

Thank you, God, for the beautiful bond of love that exists between <Party 1> and <Party 2>

Thank you for this day shared with family, friends and loved ones.

We are grateful for your presence with us here today and for your divine blessing on this blessed event, the marriage day of <Party 1> and <Party 2>.

Amen.

Hindu Wedding Blessing

Hindu wedding blessings would usually be performed by a Hindu priest (pandit).

The 7 blessings follow.

    1. May this couple be blessed with an abundance of resources and comforts, and be helpful to one another in all ways.
    2. May this couple be strong and complement one another.
    3. May this couple be blessed with prosperity and riches on all levels.
    4. May this couple be eternally happy.
    5. May this couple be blessed with a happy family life.
    6. May this couple live in perfect harmony… true to their personal values and their joint promises.
    7. May this couple always be the best of friends.

Irish

Always remember to forget the things that made you sad. But never forget to remember the things that made you glad. Always remember to forget the friends that proved untrue. But never forget to remember those that have stuck by you. Always remember to forget the troubles that passed away. But never forget to remember the blessings that come each day

May you have love that never ends,
lots of money, and lots of friends.
Health be yours, whatever you do,
and may God send many blessings to you!

Japanese wedding blessings (Norito)

Bless them as unmoving and eternal
May their lives flourish like luxuriant trees.
May they, bride and groom, together with heaven and earth, with the sun and the
moon, continue to give out light and radiance.
Thus we do reverently pray.

Judaism – The Seven Blessings

Taken from https://www.myjewishlearning.com/article/the-sheva-berakhot/ and written by  Rabbi Josh Bolton

  1. May the life you share together be as sweet as this wine you drink today. Blessed is the Source of Life, who created the fruit of the vine.
  2. May your love for one another always be a source of inspiration and happiness. Blessed is the Source of Joy, who creates a wonderful, brilliant world.
  3. May your journey together be blessed with generosity and forgiveness. May you enable each other to fulfil your dreams, and may you be committed to the paths of courage and hope. Blessed is the Source of Generosity who created such good, remarkable people…you two!
  4. Wherever you travel, and wherever life takes you, may the love of your family and friends always echo in your hearts…even across great distances and times. Blessed is the Source of Love who supports the edifice of love.
  5. With the strength of your relationship, may you help transform the world in big ways and small ways. May your love for each other be a source of warmth and inspiration for your community. Blessed is the Source of Healing who brings wellbeing to the world through Her children.
  6. May you always find a refuge tucked within your love – a place to hide out, and a place to reflect. Blessed is the Source of Safety, who brings joy to the brides.
  7. Blessed is the Source of Life, who creates wonder, pleasure, song, and delight! May the bride and groom be filled with gladness, and rejoicing, love, harmony, and companionship. And may they be blessed with lots and lots of peace! Blessed is the Source of Life, who is the Source of Peace.

Keep And Guide Them

Family, friends, and loved ones, let us pray together:
Gracious Father God, we give you thanks for your gift of enduring love and your presence here with us now as we witness the vows of marriage between
We ask you to bless this couple in their union and throughout their life together as husband and wife.
Keep and guide them from this day forward.
In the name of Jesus Christ.
Amen.

May This Day Shine Eternally (Religious)

Dear God, Heavenly father

Bring your blessings upon this couple

Bless this day so that this day may shine eternally in their lives.
May this day and your love, add brilliance to every achievement and cast a precious light over any misfortune.
May you care for them as they care for each other, in all sadness and in all joy.
May you provide them with great happiness.
May you give vitality to them in all undertakings.
May all that is virtuous, beautiful and honest, remain with this couple always
May this transition in their lives bring great adventure and fulfilment
May they weather all together and always find boundless happiness in each other,

Through Christ our Lord

Amen

Pagan Wedding Blessing Examples

Now you are bound one to the other
With a tie not easy to break.
Take the time of binding
Before the final vows are made
To learn what you need to know –
To grow in wisdom and love.
That your marriage will be strong
That your love will last
In this life and beyond.

Surround Them With Your Love

Our Father, love has been your greatest gift to the world.
Today we celebrate the love between these two people.
May your blessing be on this wedding service.
Protect, guide, and bless them.
Surround them with your love now and always,
Amen.

The Bounty Of Your Great Love

Heavenly Father, we thank you for the joy and beauty of this occasion.
We thank you for this important moment in an ever-growing relationship.
We thank you for your presence here, and for your presence at all times.
Bless this union and fill this marriage with the bounty of your great love.
In Jesus Christ’s holy name,
Amen.

The Journey Together

A journey begins with a single step
A step into the aisle led to this space and these vows,
When you walk from here, married together,
Your first step will be as one.
This is where you are starting from today;
no matter where you find yourself
if you hold steadfastly together
With life,
With each other …
As you take this one small step of love,
In faith,
You leave a footprint
To guide you tomorrow
and the next…

If you,
Take such a step each day,
Then,
You will be moving forward;
You will be walking
Together:
You will be leaving a trail
for others to follow and to aspire to

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BOATS & SAILING

The Voyage

by Christie Moore ( song)

I am a sailor, you’re my first mate
We signed on together, we coupled our fate
Hauled up our anchor, determined not to fail
For the hearts treasure, together we set sail
With no maps to guide us we steered our own course
Rode out the storms when the winds were gale force
Sat out the doldrums in patience and hope
Working together we learned how to cope
Life is an ocean and love is a boat
In troubled water that keeps us afloat
When we started the voyage, there was just me and you
Now gathered round us, we have our own crew
Together we’re in this relationship
We built it with care to last the whole trip
Our true destination’s not marked on any charts
We’re navigating to the shores of the heart
Life is an ocean and love is a boat
In troubled water that keeps us afloat,
When we started the voyage, there was just me and you
Now gathered round us, we have our own crew

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BUDHISM

The Four Elements of Love

http://blog.sivanaspirit.com/elements-love-according-buddha/

Buddha taught that to experience true love, you have the qualities of:

    1. Loving-kindness,
    2. compassion,
    3. joy, and
    4. inclusiveness (equanimity).

Applied on a daily basis, these principles cause romance to blossom.

  • LOVING-KINDNESS – True love should generate joy- not pain. And that starts with making serious efforts to understand how to meet each other’s needs.
  • COMPASSION – in order for love to grow, one must practice compassion, which in turn, will also grow. A single compassionate word, action, or thought can reduce another person’s suffering and bring them joy.
  • JOY – true love has the ability to heighten joy and reduce suffering. Being in the moment, together, is truly joyous!
  • EQUANIMITY – or  upeksha, means nonattachment, non-discrimination, even- mindedness, or letting go. Upa means “over,” and iksha means “to look.” You climb the mountain to be able to look over the whole situation, not bound by one side or the other. If your love has attachment, discrimination, prejudice, or clinging, it’s not true love. As long as we see ourselves as the one who loves and the other as the one who is loved, as long as we value ourselves more than others or see ourselves as different from others, we do not have true equanimity. We have to put ourselves “into the other person’s skin” and become one with the other if we want to understand and truly love. When that happens, there is no “self’ and no “other.”

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BUSH & COUNTRY

My Country

© 1904 Dorothea MacKellar

The love of field and coppice, of green and shaded lanes,
Of ordered woods and gardens is running in your veins.
Strong love of grey-blue distance, brown streams and soft, dim skies-
I know but cannot share it, my love is otherwise.

I love a sunburnt country, a land of sweeping plains,
Of ragged mountain ranges, of droughts and flooding rains.
I love her far horizons, I love her jewel-sea,
Her beauty and her terror- the wide brown land for me!

The stark white ring-barked forests, all tragic to the moon,
The sapphire-misted mountains, the hot gold hush of noon,
Green tangle of the brushes where lithe lianas coil,
And orchids deck the tree-tops, and ferns the warm dark soil.

Core of my heart, my country! Her pitiless blue sky,
When, sick at heart, around us we see the cattle die –
But then the grey clouds gather, and we can bless again
The drumming of an army, the steady soaking rain.

Core of my heart, my country! Land of the rainbow gold,
For flood and fire and famine she pays us back threefold.
Over the thirsty paddocks, watch, after many days,
The filmy veil of greenness that thickens as we gaze.

An opal-hearted country, a wilful, lavish land –
All you who have not loved her, you will not understand –
Though earth holds many splendours, wherever I may die,
I know to what brown country my homing thoughts will fly.

The Wedding

By © John B. Langley, Published: February 2006

The groom stood by his solemn bride before the country preacher
Angelic hosts had gathered close to notice every feature
The tall man stood in suit of blue, the short bride dressed in green
He looked upon with loving eyes the prettiest girl he’d seen

The bridesmaids both stood wide-eyed as awaiting sacred cue
While the flower girl danced from foot to foot in shoes that were so new
The best man stood too poor to buy a coat for the occasion
But posed there patiently to hear the preacher’s recitation

The one lone groomsman took his place trousers hiked up to his calf
Yet no one really seemed to mind or even thought to laugh
The ring boy ran from left to right unsure of where to settle
Then darted to his mother’s side to show the shiny metal

Someone met the singer one hour from the wedding’s start
But the way that he was singing seemed to touch the coldest heart
No eye was dry in earth or sky as the preacher boldly said
Can anybody tell me why these two should not be wed

A quiet hush fell through that place in defiance of an answer
All stood still to hear God’s will except the little dancer
So be it… cried the preacher… So be it… cried the crowd
So be it… cried the ring boy though only half as loud

Every eye beheld the pair as they took each others hands
Exchanging one another’s love with inexpensive bands
The vows were said I do, I do… You now may kiss the bride
No earthly words could dare express the joy they felt inside

Overhead the angels watched and turned their blessings there
The preacher bowed his head to pray one final closing prayer
The small crowd left, but turned their heads to a voice which seemed to say
Look not on this with eyes of man… God’s work’s been done today

CARS & CAR LOVERS

I Wanna Be Yours

by John Cooper Clarke

I wanna be your vacuum cleaner
Breathing in your dust
I wanna be your Ford Cortina
I will never rust
If you like your coffee hot
Let me be your coffee pot
You call the shots
I wanna be yours
I wanna be your raincoat
For those frequent rainy days
I wanna be your dreamboat
When you want to sail away
Let me be your teddy bear
Take me with you anywhere
I don’t care
I wanna be yours
I wanna be your electric meter
I will not run out
I wanna be the electric heater
You’ll get cold without
I wanna be your setting lotion
Hold your hair in deep devotion
Deep as the deep Atlantic Ocean
That’s how deep is my devotion

 

Marriage is Like My Old Car

by Marie April Gismondi

The way I see it, marriage is like my old car.
When I bought it new from the dealership,
everyone around me was saying; “Wow that’s a nice car!”
It was all bright and shiny and worthy of admiration.
And then as the years went by…
there were places where the paint was starting to peel off.
It got a little dent and a scratch or two here and there…
and once it was over a decade old…
People started saying; “Why are you still driving that old thing?”
But my car ran like a top and would never leave me high and dry.
Every time something sounded a little off, or needed attention,
I got to work on it and fixed whatever needed fixing immediately,
knowing that you get what you give.
And then, when she became “a classic”,
it was off to the body shop she went for a new paint job.
People once again began saying; “Wow, that’s a really nice car!”
But what they didn’t know was that all the things that really matter,
were always things that nobody could see from the outside.
A marriage is like my old car.
It’s the maintenance you do between the high of the wedding day,
and gaining the admiration your grandchildren
by being the couple who still laughs and shares secrets,
and still holds hands after all these years.
So don’t worry so much about what people think or say.
Just do your oil changes, keep up with your maintenance,
get out and have fun,
don’t be afraid to blow the dust off now and then,
and fix whatever breaks as soon as it happens.
This is my advice for a marriage
that will motor successfully on down the highway of life.

 

CATS

All I Need To Know About Life I Learned From My Cat

By  Author Unknown

Life is hard, then you nap.
One day ignore people, the next day annoy them.
When in doubt cop an attitude.
Curiosity never killed anything except maybe a few hours.
Climb your way to the top, that’s why the drapes are there.
Never sleep alone when you can sleep on someone’s face.
If you’re not receiving enough attention,
try knocking over several expensive lamps.
Make your mark in the world or at least spray each corner.
When you go out into the world, remember:
being placed on a pedestal is a right, not a privilege.

Love Is Like A Large White Cat

by Derek Marquardt

Love is like a large white cat sitting on its paws.
You may pet it all you like; it lives by its own laws.
It comes and goes as it decides no matter what you say.
It seems the more you want it near, the more it goes away.
And then when you are quite content to sit out in the sun alone
with just your thoughts and dreams, not needing anyone.
Out it comes,
as if in fear that somehow you’ll forget,
and jumps up purring in your lap,
demanding to be pet …

Stray Cat

by Francis Witham

“Oh, what unhappy twist of fate
Has brought you homeless to my gate?
The gate where once another stood
To beg for shelter, warmth, and food

For from that day I ceased to be
The master of my destiny.
While he, with purr and velvet paw
Became within my house the law.

He scratched the furniture and shed
And claimed the middle of my bed.
He ruled in arrogance and pride
And broke my heart the day he died.

So if you really think, oh Cat,
I’d willingly relive all that
Because you come forlorn and thin
Well…don’t just stand there…Come on in!”

The Owl and the Pussy-Cat

by 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,
You are,
You are!
What a beautiful Pussy you are!’

Pussy said to Owl, ‘You elegant fowl!
How charmingly sweet you sing!
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 a 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 Piggy, ‘I will.’
So they took it away, and were married next day
By the Turkey who lives on the hill.
They dinèd 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.

CHILDREN – items that could be read by Children

A Lovely Love Story

by Edward Monkton

The fierce Dinosaur was trapped inside his cage of ice.
Although it was cold he was happy in there. It was, after all, his cage.
Then along came the Lovely Other Dinosaur.
The Lovely Other Dinosaur melted the Dinosaur’s cage with kind words and loving thoughts.
I like this Dinosaur thought the Lovely Other Dinosaur.
Although he is fierce he is also tender and he is funny.
He is also quite clever though I will not tell him this for now.
I like this Lovely Other Dinosaur, thought the Dinosaur.
She is beautiful and she is different and she smells so nice.
She is also a free spirit which is a quality I much admire in a dinosaur.
But he can be so distant and so peculiar at times, thought the Lovely Other Dinosaur.
He is also overly fond of things.
Are all Dinosaurs so overly fond of things?
But her mind skips from here to there so quickly thought the Dinosaur.
She is also uncommonly keen on shopping.
Are all Lovely Other Dinosaurs so uncommonly keen on shopping?
I will forgive his peculiarity and his concern for things, thought the Lovely Other Dinosaur.
For they are part of what makes him a richly charactered individual.
I will forgive her skipping mind and her fondness for shopping, thought the Dinosaur.
For she fills our life with beautiful thoughts and wonderful surprises. Besides,
I am not unkeen on shopping either.
Now the Dinosaur and the Lovely Other Dinosaur are old.
Look at them.
Together they stand on the hill telling each other stories and feeling the warmth of the sun on their backs.
And that, my friends, is how it is with love.
Let us all be Dinosaurs and Lovely Other Dinosaurs together.
For the sun is warm.
And the world is a beautiful place.

Getting Married Means You’ll Have  

by Nicholas Gordon

Getting married means you’ll have
Someone’s hand to hold,
Even when you’re feeling sick,
Even when you’re old.

It means when you sit down to eat,
Someone will be there,
So you won’t have to tell your day
To an empty chair.

It means that you can have some kids
Just like a mom and dad,
And play with them all afternoon,
Except when they are bad.

It means that when you need some help,
Someone will help out,
Someone always near to you
So you won’t have to shout.

But best of all is when it’s time
To turn out all the lights:
You won’t have to be alone
Those long and scary nights.

So even though you don’t have toys,
You don’t have to care:
Once you’re married you can be
Each other’s teddy bear!

Once Upon A Time

by unknown author

Once upon a time you two met.
You’ve shared much love and laughter.
May your marriage be a fairy-tale.
Happily ever after.

I am happy to be in your story
This all just feels so right
Congratulations King and Queen,
From your favourite little Knight

I’m glad I’m in the fairy tale
And you are too I guess
Congratulations, King and Queen
From your fairy tale Princess

What is a Family?  

by Author Unknown

A family is …..
The sweetest feelings
the warmest hugs
trust and togetherness
unconditional love.
The stories of your lives written on the same page,
the nicest memories anyone has ever made.
Treasured photos
thankful tears
hearts overflowing with all the years.
Being there for one another
supporting and caring
understanding, helping, sharing.
Walking life’s path together
and making the journey more beautiful because …..
You are a family…..
And a family is Love.

What is Real?

(extract from The Velveteen Rabbit by Margery Williams)

“What is REAL?” asked the Rabbit one day, when they were lying side by side near the nursery fender, before Nanna came to tidy the room. “Does it mean having things that buzz inside you and a stick-out handle?”

“Real isn’t how you are made,” said the Skin Horse. “It’s a thing that happens to you. When a child loves you for a long, long time, not just to play with, but REALLY loves you, then you become Real.”

“Does it hurt?” asked the Rabbit.

“Sometimes,” said the Skin Horse, for he was always truthful. “When you are Real you don’t mind being hurt.”

“Does it happen all at once, like being wound up,” he asked, “or bit by bit?”

“It doesn’t happen all at once,” said the Skin Horse. “You become. It takes a long time. That’s why it doesn’t happen often to people who break easily, or have sharp edges, or who have to be carefully kept. Generally, by the time you are Real, most of your hair has been loved off, and your eyes drop out and you get loose in your joints and very shabby. But these things don’t matter at all, because once you are Real you can’t be ugly, except to people who don’t understand.”

DINOSAURS

A Lovely Love Story

by Edward Monkton

The fierce Dinosaur was trapped inside his cage of ice.
Although it was cold he was happy in there. It was, after all, his cage.
Then along came the Lovely Other Dinosaur.
The Lovely Other Dinosaur melted the Dinosaur’s cage with kind words and loving thoughts.
I like this Dinosaur thought the Lovely Other Dinosaur.
Although he is fierce he is also tender and he is funny.
He is also quite clever though I will not tell him this for now.
I like this Lovely Other Dinosaur, thought the Dinosaur.
She is beautiful and she is different and she smells so nice.
She is also a free spirit which is a quality I much admire in a dinosaur.
But he can be so distant and so peculiar at times, thought the Lovely Other Dinosaur.
He is also overly fond of things.
Are all Dinosaurs so overly fond of things?
But her mind skips from here to there so quickly thought the Dinosaur.
She is also uncommonly keen on shopping.
Are all Lovely Other Dinosaurs so uncommonly keen on shopping?
I will forgive his peculiarity and his concern for things, thought the Lovely Other Dinosaur.
For they are part of what makes him a richly charactered individual.
I will forgive her skipping mind and her fondness for shopping, thought the Dinosaur.
For she fills our life with beautiful thoughts and wonderful surprises. Besides,
I am not unkeen on shopping either.
Now the Dinosaur and the Lovely Other Dinosaur are old.
Look at them.
Together they stand on the hill telling each other stories and feeling the warmth of the sun on their backs.
And that, my friends, is how it is with love.
Let us all be Dinosaurs and Lovely Other Dinosaurs together.
For the sun is warm.
And the world is a beautiful place.

DOGS

How Falling in Love is like Owning a Dog

By Taylor Mali, 2019

First of all, it’s a big responsibility,
especially in a city like New York.
So think long and hard before deciding on love.
On the other hand, love gives you a sense of security:
when you’re walking down the street late at night
and you have a leash on love
ain’t no one going to mess with you.
Because crooks and muggers think love is unpredictable.
Who knows what love could do in its own defense?

On cold winter nights, love is warm.
It lies between you and lives and breathes
and makes funny noises.
Love wakes you up all hours of the night with its needs.
It needs to be fed so it will grow and stay healthy.

Love doesn’t like being left alone for long.
But come home and love is always happy to see you.
It may break a few things accidentally in its passion for life,
but you can never be mad at love for long.

Is love good all the time? No! No!
Love can be bad. Bad, love, bad! Very bad love.

Love makes messes.
Love leaves you little surprises here and there.
Love needs lots of cleaning up after.
Sometimes you just want to get love fixed.
Sometimes you want to roll up a piece of newspaper
and swat love on the nose,
not so much to cause pain,
just to let love know Don’t you ever do that again!

Sometimes love just wants to go out for a nice long walk.
Because love loves exercise. It will run you around the block
and leave you panting, breathless. Pull you in different directions
at once, or wind itself around and around you
until you’re all wound up and you cannot move.

But love makes you meet people wherever you go.
People who have nothing in common but love
stop and talk to each other on the street.

Throw things away and love will bring them back,
again, and again, and again.
But most of all, love needs love, lots of it.
And in return, love loves you and never stops.

FAMILY

A Family

By unknown

A family is a place To cry, and laugh and vent frustrations
To ask for help, to tease and yell
To be touched and hugged and smiled at.
A family is people who care when you are sad
Who love you no matter what
Who share your triumphs and don’t expect you to be perfect
Just growing with honesty in your own direction.
A family is a circle where we learn to like ourselves
Where we learn to make good decisions
Where we learn to think before we do
Where we learn patience and table manners
And respect for other people
A family is a place where we share ideas
Where we listen and are listened to –
Where we learn the rules of life to prepare us for the world.
The world is a place where anything can happen
And if we grow up in a loving family – We are ready for the world.

A Family Is Like a Circle

© Nicole M. O’Neil, Published: February 2006,

A family is like a circle
the connection never ends
and even if at times it breaks
in time it always mends
a family is like the stars
somehow they’re always there
families are those who help
who support and always care
A family is like a book
the endings never clear
but through the pages of the book
their love is always near
A family is many things
with endless words that show
who they are and what they do
and how they teach you so you know
but don’t be weary if it’s broken
or if through time its been so worn
families are like that-
they’re split up and always torn
but even if this happens
your family will always be
they help define just who you are
and will be apart of you eternally

I Love My Family So Much

By Filoi Hemopo

o be a part of a family like mine
is so divine
where love is shown
hurt is shared
our love for each other is never impaired
we talk
we laugh
we cry
but we are a family
and we do it all together
for as a family we do it all as one
for we are family
a family full of strength
a family full of love
a family no one can touch
that’s why I love my family so much
my family is my life and always will be forever

The Power Of Family

© Antony-Tyrone Smith, AKA Pen Dragon – Published: February 2006,

Family is,
heaven sent from our father above,
bonded by the power of love.
No matter what family has each others back,
when push comes to shove.Family is,
understanding, never demanding,
all for one and one for all,
I will never leave you alone standing.

Family is,
one in itself, my love is your love,
your pain is my pain, my wealth is your wealth,
I promise to never leave you by yourself.

Family is,
the strongest team, the strongest unit;
if love could be visualized,
family would be the blue print.

Family is,
forgiveness and patience,
it’s sweeter than the sweetest fragrance,
the power of family is a reflection of God’s compassion and magnificence.

Family is,
never turning our back, and never shames,
lend my helping hand and not a finger pointing the blame.

No matter what, a family bond can never be broken,
even through a nuclear explosion,
if one of us lives we all live.
Forever to eternity, we are family,
my father, my mother, my sisters and me.

We Are A Family

by Natasha Niemi

When we get together,
Good times are loud
And most times, too fattening.
Arguments are wordless
And apologies are unneeded.
New memories are made
When we come together.
We’re more than just friends;
We are family.

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GRACE – Prayers before a meal at your reception:

Christian

  • Option 1

Dear Lord, we gather in this place in a spirit of celebration and gratitude.
Thank you for the blessing of bringing (name) and (name) together in marriage today.
We ask you to bless their marriage, their family, and all of their relationships.
Help them stay strong in any adversity, and to treasure and protect the joy of marriage.
May we, as their family and friends, commit to uphold and encourage them to the best of our ability.
Please bless this food we are about to receive, and let this reception be an honour to You.
In Jesus’ name.
Amen.

  • Option 2

For each new morning with its light,
For rest and shelter of the night,
For health and food,
For love and friends,
For everything Thy goodness sends.
Amen.

  • Option 3

Thank you for the food we eat.
Thank you for the friends we meet.
Thank you for the birds that sing.
Thank you God, for everything.
Amen.

  • Option 4

For what we are about to receive,
may the Lord make us truly thankful.
Amen

  • Option 5

Dear Lord,
You are the giver of all things
We prayer that this couple married today,
May the receivers of all your grace & goodness,
May their lives & marriage be truly wonderous, happy and bountiful
We ask this through Christ our Lord,
Amen.

  • Option 6

Lord, we thank you for this food.
For rest and home and all things good.
For wind and rain and sun above.
But most of all for those we love.
Amen.

  • Option 7

For each new morning with its light,
For rest and shelter of the night,
For health and food,
For love and friends,
For everything, Thy goodness sends.

Thank you for the food we eat.
Thank you for the friends we meet.
Thank you for the birds that sing.
Thank you God, for everything.

For what we are about to receive,
may the Lord make us truly thankful.
Amen

Irish

See https://www.alifecelebrant.com.au/about/wedding-poems-readings/#_Toc505942267

Jewish

We praise you, eternal God, who brings forth bread from the earth.
Blessed are You, God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, who have given us your commandments so that we may live in a way that pleases you.
Bless this married couple, (name) and (name), and may their life together reflect your glory.
May their home be full of joy and gladness, and may their union be blessed with much fruit.
May (name) and (name) always find favor in Your eyes and in the eyes of those around them.
May they enjoy and expand the community they belong to. May peace reign in their home, and contentment and happiness be a mark of their lives from this day forward.
Amen.

Universal Faith

Thank you, Creator, for bringing (name) and (name) together in such a happy way.
We ask the Universe to bless this couple and their future together.
May happiness and joy always be in their marriage.
As they explore their love for each other, establish a home, and build a life together, may they be strengthened by the love and encouragement of those gathered here today.
If and when times get hard, may they remember the commitment they made today and the joy that brought them together.
Help them to learn from one another and grow strong as both individuals and a couple.
May the food we eat now bring strength to us, and may we all enjoy this time of celebration and friendship.
Amen.

HINDU

Hindu Marriage Poem

You have become mine forever.
Yes, we have become partners.
I have become yours.
Hereafter, I cannot live without you.
Do not live without me.
Let us share the joys.
We are word and meaning, unite.
You are thought and I am sound.

May the nights be honey-sweet for us.
May the mornings be honey-sweet for us.
May the plants be honey-sweet for us.
May the earth be honey-sweet for us.

Hindu Wedding Blessing

Hindu wedding blessings would usually be performed by a Hindu priest (pandit) .

The 7 blessings follow.

    1. May this couple be blessed with an abundance of resources and comforts, and be helpful to one another in all ways.
    2. May this couple be strong and complement one another.
    3. May this couple be blessed with prosperity and riches on all levels.
    4. May this couple be eternally happy.
    5. May this couple be blessed with a happy family life.
    6. May this couple live in perfect harmony… true to their personal values and their joint promises.
    7. May this couple always be the best of friends.

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FISHING

 The Greatest Catch

By © SRM, – Stella McMahon 12/02/2020

Their destiny was sealed, when he fed her the line
If you show me yours, I’ll show you mine
So, they made a date and spent the next week wishing
That the other one had the same passion for fishing
Their journey began, with just the right tension
And he’d spinner stories of magnitude suspension
While they sat round the campfire into the night
Comparing fishy tails through to daylight
Along the way they hit a few snags
And sometimes needed to air out those swags
But through thick and fin they rode out the waves
And now pitch camp together for the rest of their days

FIRST LOVE

We

By Lou Szymkow, 04/09/2018

We played, we laughed
We grew, we smiled,
We felt each others pains and enjoyed each others gains
We were children and then we were teens
We lived our lives and all the in-betweens
We fell in love along the way and now cannot imagine it being any other way
We now take each others’ hands and hearts and today exchange rings,  so we’ll never be apart

FUNNY

An Australian Love Poem

Of course, i love ya darling
You’re a bloody top notch bird
And when i say you’re gorgeous
I mean every single word
So ya bum is on the big side
I don’t mind a bit of flab
It means that when i’m ready
There’s something there to grab
So your belly isn’t flat no more
I tell ya, i don’t care
So long as when i cuddle ya
I can get my arms round there
No Shiela who is your age
Has nice round perky breasts
They just gave into gravity
But i know ya did ya best
I’m telling ya the truth now
I never tell ya lies
I think its very sexy
You’ve got dimples on ya thighs
I swear on me nanna’s grave now
The moment that we met
I thought u was as good as i
Was ever gonna get
No matter wot u look like
I’ll always love u dear
Now shut up while the footy’s on
And get me another beer!!

Fair Dinkum Love

By Kim Cockerell

Fair dinkum love isn’t about bringing in a dozen red roses
It’s about bringing in the washing.
It’s not about standing next to your partner
because they look good on your arm
It’s about standing by them even when they look foolish.
Fair dinkum love isn’t about stiff posture and smart clothes
It’s about wrestling on the couch in your tracksuit.
It’s not about oysters and candle-lit dinners
It’s about bringing home Chinese when your partner’s had a busy day.
Fair dinkum love isn’t about exciting getaways and fancy resorts
It’s about being totally content sleeping-in together at home.
It’s not about gym memberships and facelifts
It’s about growing old and fat together.
Fair dinkum love is not about romance or image or success.
Fair dinkum love is about two average people adoring and accepting each other for who they are.

He Never Leaves The Seat Up

Author unknown

He never leaves the seat up
Or wet towels upon the floor
The toothpaste has the lid on
And he always shuts the door!

She’s very clean and tidy
Though she may sometimes delude
Leave your things out at your peril
In a second they’ll have moved!

He’s a very active person
As are all his next of kin
Where as she likes lazy days
He’ll still drag her to the gym!

He romances her and dines her
Home cooked dinners and the like
He even knows her favourite food
And spoils her day and night!
She’s thoughtful when he looks at her
A smile upon his face
Will he look that good in 50 years
When his dentures aren’t in place?!
He says he loves her figure
And her mental prowess too
But when gravity takes her over
Will she charm with her IQ?

She says she loves his kindness
And his patience is a must
And of course she thinks he’s handsome
Which in her eyes is a plus!
They’re both not wholly perfect
But who are we to judge
He can be pig headed
Where as she won’t even budge!

All that said and done
They love the time they spent together
And I hope as I’m sure you do
That this fine day will last forever.

He’ll be more than just her husband
He’ll also be her friend
And she’ll be more than just his wife
She’s be his soul mate ‘till the end.

I Wanna Be Yours

By John Cooper Clarke

 I wanna be your vacuum cleaner
breathing in your dust
I wanna be your Ford Cortina
I will never rust
If you like your coffee hot
let me be your coffee pot
You call the shots
I wanna be yours

I wanna be your raincoat
for those frequent rainy days
I wanna be your dreamboat
when you want to sail away
Let me be your teddy bear
take me with you anywhere
I don’t care
I wanna be yours

I wanna be your electric meter
I will not run out
I wanna be the electric heater
you’ll get cold without
I wanna be your setting lotion
hold your hair in deep devotion
Deep as the deep Atlantic ocean
that’s how deep is my devotion

Love Me When I’m Old And Shocking

By Bee Rawlinson

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 enthralls
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

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Marriage

By author unknown

Marriage is about giving and taking
And forging 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 you’re dying 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.

The News Where I Am

By Brian Bliston

Today, my travel card expired.
Got soaked through twice. Oh, and got fired.
A dog bit me.
I lost my phone,
but you will be there when I get home

A pigeon crapped upon my head.
I ate a slice of mouldy bread.
I lost a tooth.
I broke three bones.
Who cares?
You’ll be there when I get home.

My lottery numbers came up today
(a shame that I forgot to play).
I think I’ve got a kidney stone.
Like, whatever.
You’ll be there when I get home.

The icecaps melt some more each year.
A new world war will soon be here.
The most perfect day that I’ve ever known!
Because,
Did I mention this?
You’ll be there when I get home

 

They Should Have Asked My Husband

By Pam Ayres

You know this world is complicated, imperfect and oppressed
And it’s not hard to feel timid, apprehensive and depressed.
It seems that all around us tides of questions ebb and flow
And people want solutions but they don’t know where to go.

Opinions abound but who is wrong and who is right.
People need a prophet, a diffuser of the light.
Someone they can turn to as the crises rage and swirl.
Someone with the remedy, the wisdom, and the pearl.

Well, they should have asked my ‘usband,
He’d have told’ em then and there.
His thoughts on immigration, teenage mothers, Tony Blair,
The future of the monarchy, house prices in the south
The wait for hip replacements, BSE and foot and mouth.
Yes, they should have asked my husband
He can sort out any mess
He can rejuvenate the railways he can cure the NHS
So any little niggle, anything you want to know
Just run it past my husband, wind him up and let him go.

Congestion on the motorways, free holidays for thugs
The damage to the ozone layer, refugees and drugs.
These may defeat the brain of any politician bloke
But present it to my husband and he’ll solve it at a stroke.

He’ll clarify the situation; he will make it crystal clear
You’ll feel the glazing of your eyeballs, and the bending of your ear.
Corruption at the top, he’s an authority on that
And the Mafia, Gadafia and Yasser Arafat.

Upon these areas he brings his intellect to shine
In a great compelling voice that’s twice as loud as yours or mine.
I often wonder what it must be like to be so strong,
Infallible, articulate, self-confident… and wrong.

When it comes to tolerance – he hasn’t got a lot
Joyriders should be guillotined and muggers should be shot.
The sound of his own voice becomes like music to his ears
And he hasn’t got an inkling that he’s boring us to tears.

My friends don’t call so often, they have busy lives I know
But its not everyday you want to hear a windbag suck and blow.
Encyclopaedias, on them we never have to call
Why clutter up the bookshelf when my husband knows it all!

Wedding Song

Writer/s: Noel Paul Stookey, Publisher: Warner/Chappell Music, Inc.

He is now to be among you at the calling of your hearts
Rest assured this troubadour is acting on His part
The union of your spirits here has caused Him to remain
For whenever two or more of you are gathered in His name
There is love, there is love

Well a man shall leave his mother, and a woman leave her home
They shall travel on to where the two shall be as one
As it was in the beginning is now until the end
A woman draws her life from man and gives it back again
And there is love, there is love

Well then what’s to be the reason for becoming man and wife
Is it love that brings you here or love that gives you life
For if loving is the answer then who’s the giving for
Do you believe in something that you’ve never seen before
Oh there’s love, oh there’s love

Oh, the marriage of your spirits here has caused Him to remain
For whenever two or more of you are gathered in His name
There is love, oh there’s love

Yes, I’ll Marry You My Dear

by Pam Ayres

Yes, I’ll marry you, my dear.
And here’s the reason why.
So I can push you out of bed
When the baby starts to cry.
And if we hear a knocking
And it’s creepy and it’s late,
I hand you the torch you see,
And you investigate.

Yes I’ll marry you, my dear,
You may not apprehend it,
But when the tumble-drier goes
It’s you that has to mend it.
You have to face the neighbour
Should our labrador attack him,
And if a drunkard fondles me
It’s you that has to whack him.

Yes, I’ll marry you,
You’re virile and you’re lean,
My house is like a pigsty
You can help to keep it clean.
That sexy little dinner
Which you served by candlelight,
As I do chipolatas,
You can cook it every night!!!

It’s you who has to work the drill
And put up curtain track,
And when I’ve got PMT it’s you who gets the flak,
I do see great advantages,
But none of them for you,
And so before you see the light,
I DO, I DO, I DO!!

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INDIGENOUS

An Indigenous Prayer

By Burnam Burnum, (dec) elder, activist & actor
Of the Wurundjeri tribe, a Woiworrung and Yorta Yorta man and prominent Australian Aboriginal activist, actor, and author.

May the fire be in our thoughts
making them true, good and just,
may it protect us from the evil one.
May the fire be in our eyes;
may it open our eyes to share what is good in life.
We ask that the fire may protect us from what
is not rightfully ours.
May the fire be on our lips, so that we may
speak the truth in kindness; that we may serve
and encourage others.
May it protect us from speaking evil.
May the fire be in our ears.
We pray that we may hear with a deep, deep listening
so that we may hear the flow of water, and of all creation. And the dreaming.
May we be protected from gossip and from things
that harm and break down our family.
May the fire be in our arms and hands
so that we may be of service and build up love.
May the fire protect us from all violence.
May the fire be in our whole being –
in our legs and in our feet,
enable us to walk the earth
with reverence and care;
So that we may walk in the ways of goodness and truth
and be protected from walking away from what is truth.

Love Poem

By Ali Cobby Eckermann

there is love in the wind by the singing rock
down the river by the ancient tree
love in kangaroo, goanna and emu
love when spirits speak no human voice
at the sacred sites eyes unblemished
watch wedge tail eagle soar over hidden water
find the love

The Dream

by Zelda Quakawoot, QLD
Source: https://www.creativespirits.info/aboriginalculture/arts/the-dream#ixzz56mECa4KL

A dream is not a prediction
Nor is it your only goal
It’s a larger slice of sunshine
That glows within your soul
Dreams light up your horizons
On the darkest cloudy day
And dissolve the darkest moments
When you may just feel okay

Your dream is like a treasure
Like the pot of gold not seen
The dream is all but yours
And it never seems to leave

It is the only thing
That will remain near to our hearts,
We may not ever get to it
But the Dream has to start…

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IRISH BLESSINGS

Blessing (long)

May St. Pat himself be looking down with joy upon you today!

May the luck of the Irish be with you!

May joy and peace surround you,
contentment latch your door,
and happiness be with you now
and bless you evermore!

May the road rise to meet you,
may the wind be ever at your back.
May the sun shine warm upon your face,
and the rains fall soft upon your fields.
And until we meet again,
may God hold you in the palm of his hand.

May the blessing of God’s soft rain be on you,
Falling gently on your head, refreshing your soul
With the sweetness of little flowers newly blooming.
May the strength of the winds of Heaven bless you,
Carrying the rain to wash your spirit clean
Sparkling after in the sunlight.
May the blessing of God’s earth be on you,
And as you walk the roads,
May you always have a kind word
for those you meet.

May the blessing of light be upon you,
Light on the outside,
Light on the inside.

With God’s sunlight shining on you,
May your heart glow with warmth,
Like a turf fire
that welcomes friends and strangers alike.

May the light of the Lord shine from your eyes,
Like a candle in the window,
Welcoming the weary traveller.

May there always be work for your hands to do
May your purse always hold a coin or two;
May the sun always shine on your windowpane;
May a rainbow be certain to follow each rain;
May the hand of a friend always be near you;
May God fill your heart with gladness to cheer you.

May your neighbours respect you,
Trouble neglect you,
The angels protect you,
And heaven accept you.

May you always have…
Walls for the winds
A roof for the rain
Tea beside the fire
Laughter to cheer you
Those you love near you
And all your heart might desire
May those who love us, love us;
And for those who don’t love us,
May God turn their hearts;
And if He doesn’t turn their hearts,
May He turn their ankles,
So we will know them by their limping!

Blessing  (walk in sunshine.)

May you always walk in sunshine.
May you never want for more.
May Irish angels rest their wings
Right beside your door.

Druid’s Prayer

We swear by peace and love to stand
Heart to heart and hand to hand.
Hark, O Spirit, and hear us now,
Confirming this our Sacred Vow.

Encouragement for a Groom

May you enjoy the four greatest blessings:
Honest work to occupy you.
A hearty appetite to sustain you.
A good woman to love you.
And a wink from the God above.

Traditional Blessing

May the road rise to meet you,
May the wind be always at your back.
May the sun shine warm upon your face,
The rains fall soft upon your fields.
And until we meet again,
May God hold you in the palm of his hand.

May the road rise to meet you
May the wind be always at your back
May the warm rays of sun fall upon your home
And may the hand of a friend always be near.

May green be the grass you walk on,
May blue be the skies above you,
May pure be the joys that surround you,
May true be the hearts that love you.

May you both live as long as you want,
And never want as long as you live.

Traditional  Wedding Toast (matched)

Bless you and yours,
As well as the cottage you live in.
May the roof overhead be well thatched
And those inside be well matched.

Troubles be less

May your troubles be less,
And your blessings be more.
And nothing but happiness,
Come through your door.

Marriage Blessing (God be with you)

May God be with you and bless you
May you see your children’s children
May you be poor in misfortunes and rich in blessings
May you know nothing but happiness
from this day forward.

Marriage Blessing (raindrops)

May the raindrops fall lightly on your brow
May the soft winds freshen your spirit
May the sunshine brighten your heart
May the burdens of the day rest lightly upon you
And may God enfold you in the mantle of His love.

Wedding Blessing (Sunshine)

May the sun shine, all day long,
everything go right, and nothing wrong.
May those you love bring love back to you,
and may all the wishes you wish come true!

Marriage Toast (fertility)

May there be a generation of children
On the children of your children.
May your mornings bring joy and your evenings bring peace.
May your troubles grow few as your blessings increase.
May the saddest day of your future
Be no worse than the happiest day of your past.
May your hands be forever clasped in friendship
And your hearts joined forever in love.
Your lives are very special,
God has touched you in many ways.
May his blessings rest upon you
And fill all your coming days.

Wedding Vow (warm your soul)

May the embers from the open hearth warm your hands,
May the sun’s rays from the Irish sky warm your face,
May the children’s bright smiles warm your heart,
May the everlasting love I give you warm your soul.

Wedding Vow (til death)

By the power that Christ brought from heaven,
mayst thou love me.
As the sun follows its course,
mayst thou follow me.
As light to the eye,
as bread to the hungry,
as joy to the heart,
May thy presence be with me,
Oh one that I love,
`til death comes to part us asunder.

  • Wedding Day Blessing (the day)
  • With the first light of sun-
    Bless you.
    When the long day is done-
    Bless you.
    In your smiles and your tears-
    Bless you.
    Through each day of your years-
    Bless you.

Wedding Day Blessing (light)

May the blessings of light be upon you,
Light without, and light within.
And in all your comings and goings,
May you ever have a kindly greeting
From them you meet along the road.

Wedding Day Blessing (rich & poor)

May you be poor in misfortune,
rich in blessings,
slow to make enemies,
quick to make friends.
But rich or poor,
quick or slow,
may you know nothing but happiness
from this day forward.

Wedding Day Blessing (joys)

Be you rich or poor, quick or slow,
May you know nothing but happiness
From this day forward.
And, may the joys of today
Be those of tomorrow.

Wise Words for Weddings (never ending love)

May you have love that never ends,
lots of money, and lots of friends.
Health be yours, whatever you do,
and may God send many blessings to you!

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JUDAISM

The Seven Blessings

Taken from https://www.myjewishlearning.com/article/the-sheva-berakhot/ and written by  Rabbi Josh Bolton

      1. May the life you share together be as sweet as this wine you drink today. Blessed is the Source of Life, who created the fruit of the vine.
      2. May your love for one another always be a source of inspiration and happiness. Blessed is the Source of Joy, who creates a wonderful, brilliant world.
      3. May your journey together be blessed with generosity and forgiveness. May you enable each other to fulfil your dreams, and may you be committed to the paths of courage and hope. Blessed is the Source of Generosity who created such good, remarkable people…you two!
      4. Wherever you travel, and wherever life takes you, may the love of your family and friends always echo in your hearts…even across great distances and times. Blessed is the Source of Love who supports the edifice of love.
      5. With the strength of your relationship, may you help transform the world in big ways and small ways. May your love for each other be a source of warmth and inspiration for your community. Blessed is the Source of Healing who brings wellbeing to the world through Her children.
      6. May you always find a refuge tucked within your love – a place to hide out, and a place to reflect. Blessed is the Source of Safety, who brings joy to the brides.
      7. Blessed is the Source of Life, who creates wonder, pleasure, song, and delight! May the bride and groom be filled with gladness, and rejoicing, love, harmony, and companionship. And may they be blessed with lots and lots of peace! Blessed is the Source of Life, who is the Source of Peace.

LIFE

Life – a poem by ‘Mother Teresa’

Life is an opportunity, benefit from it
Life is beauty, admire it
Life is bliss, taste it
Life is a dream, realise it
Life is a challenge, meet it
Life is a duty, complete it
Life is a game, play it
Life is costly, care for it
Life is wealth, keep it
Life is love, enjoy it
Life is mystery, know it
Life is a promise, fulfil it
Life is sorrow, overcome it
Life is a song, sing it
Life is a struggle, accept it
Life is a tragedy, confront it
Life is an adventure, dare it
Life is luck, make it
Life is too precious, do not destroy it
Life is Life, fight for it

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 LORD OF THE RINGS & HOBBITS

 

The Greatest Adventure – A Hobbit’s Tale

The greatest adventure,
Is what lies ahead,
Today and tomorrow,
Are yet to be said,
The chances the changes,
Are all yours to make,
The mould of your life,
Is in your hands to break,

The greatest adventure,
Is there if your bold,
Let go of the mood,
That life makes you old,
To measure the meaning,
Can make you delay,
You’ve got to stop thinking,
And wasting the day,

The man whos a dreamer,
And never takes leave,
Dreams of a world that is just make believe,
Will never know passion,
Will never know pain,
One who sits by the window,
Will one day see rain

Quotes

If more of us valued food and cheer above hoarded gold, it would be a much merrier world.

  • R. R. TOLKIEN, The Hobbit

 

Trolls are slow in the uptake, and mighty suspicious about anything new to them.

  • R. R. TOLKIEN, The Hobbit

 

Never laugh at live dragons.

  • R. R. TOLKIEN, The Hobbit

 

There is nothing like looking, if you want to find something. You certainly usually find something, if you look, but it is not always quite the something you were after.

  • R. R. TOLKIEN, The Hobbit

 

Do you wish me a good morning, or mean that it is a good morning whether I want it or not; or that you feel good this morning; or that it is a morning to be good on?

  • R. R. TOLKIEN, The Hobbit

 

Dwarves are not heroes, but calculating folk with a great idea of the value of money.

  • R. R. TOLKIEN, The Hobbit

 

The greatest adventure is what lies ahead.
Today and tomorrow are yet to be said.
The chances, the changes are all yours to make.
The mold of your life is in your hands to break.

  • R. R. TOLKIEN, The Hobbit

 

It does not do to leave a live dragon out of your calculations, if you live near him.

  • R. R. TOLKIEN, The Hobbit

 

Victory after all, I suppose! Well, it seems a very gloomy business.

  • R. R. TOLKIEN, The Hobbit

 

When the heart of a dwarf, even the most respectable, is wakened by gold and by jewels, he grows suddenly bold.

  • R. R. TOLKIEN, The Hobbit

 

What has roots as nobody sees,

Is taller than trees,

Up, up it goes,

And yet never grows?

  • R. R. TOLKIEN, Answer: A Mountain, The Hobbit

 

In these parts … we are plain quiet folk and have no use for adventures. Nasty disturbing uncomfortable things! Make you late for dinner!

  • R. R. TOLKIEN, The Hobbit

 

In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit. Not a nasty, dirty, wet hole, filled with the ends of worms and an oozy smell, nor yet a dry, bare, sandy hole with nothing in it to sit down on or to eat: it was a hobbit-hole, and that means comfort.

  • R. R. TOLKIEN, The Hobbit

 

Elvish singing is not a thing to miss, in June under the stars, not if you care for such things.

  • R. R. TOLKIEN, The Hobbit

 

May it be a light to you in dark places, when all other lights go out.

  • R. R. TOLKIEN, The Fellowship of the Ring

 

But all the while I sit and think of times there were before, I listen for returning feet

and voices at the door.

  1. R. R. TOLKIEN, The Fellowship of the Ring

 

Such is oft the course of deeds that move the wheels of the world: small hands do them because they must, while the eyes of the great are elsewhere.

  1. R. R. TOLKIEN, The Fellowship of the Ring

 

Not all those who wander are lost.

  • R. R. TOLKIEN, The Fellowship of the Ring

 

The world is indeed full of peril, and in it there are many dark places; but still there is much that is fair, and though in all lands love is now mingled with grief, it grows perhaps the greater.

  • R. R. TOLKIEN, The Fellowship of the Ring

 

Do not be too eager to deal out death in judgement. For even the very wise cannot see all ends.

  • R. R. TOLKIEN, The Fellowship of the Ring

 

It’s a dangerous business, Frodo, going out your door. You step onto the road, and if you don’t keep your feet, there’s no knowing where you might be swept off to.

  • R. R. TOLKIEN, The Fellowship of the Ring

 

Do not meddle in the affairs of wizards, for they are subtle and quick to anger.

  • R. R. TOLKIEN, The Fellowship of the Ring

 

I don’t know half of you half as well as I should like; and I like less than half of you half as well as you deserve.

  • R. R. TOLKIEN, The Fellowship of the Ring

 

Many evil things there are that your strong walls and bright swords do not stay.

  • R. R. TOLKIEN, The Fellowship of the Ring

 

It’s the job that’s never started as takes longest to finish.

  • R. R. TOLKIEN, The Fellowship of the Ring

 

All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us.

  • R. R. TOLKIEN, The Fellowship of the Ring

 

The Road goes ever on and on
Down from the door where it began,
Now far ahead the Road has gone,
And I must follow if I can,
Pursuing it with eager feet,
Until it joins some larger way
Where many paths and errands meet.
And whither then? I cannot say.

  • R. R. TOLKIEN, The Fellowship of the Ring

 

He that breaks a thing to find out what it is has left the path of wisdom.

  • R. R. TOLKIEN, The Fellowship of the Ring

 

Faithless is he that says farewell when the road darkens.

  • R. R. TOLKIEN, The Fellowship of the Ring

 

Time does not tarry ever … but change and growth is not in all things and places alike.

  • R. R. TOLKIEN, The Fellowship of the Ring

 

It is perilous to study too deeply the arts of the Enemy, for good or for ill.

  • R. R. TOLKIEN, The Fellowship of the Ring

 

Short cuts make delays, but inns make longer ones

  • R. R. TOLKIEN, The Fellowship of the Ring

 

Don’t adventures ever have an end? I suppose not. Someone else always has to carry on the story.

  • R. R. TOLKIEN, The Fellowship of the Ring

 

Still round the corner there may wait
A new road or a secret gate,
And though we pass them by today,
Tomorrow we may come this way
And take the hidden paths that run
Towards the Moon or to the Sun.

  • R. R. TOLKIEN, The Fellowship of the Ring

 

One Ring to rule them all, One Ring to find them,
One Ring to bring them all and in the darkness bind them

  • R. R. TOLKIEN, The Fellowship of the Ring

 

Even they, who named themselves the Faithful, did not wholly escape from the affliction of their people, and they were troubled by the thought of death.

  • R. R. TOLKIEN, The Silmarillion

 

Despair is only for those who see the end beyond all doubt. We do not.

  • R. R. TOLKIEN, The Fellowship of the Ring

 

The wide world is all about you: you can fence yourselves in, but you cannot for ever fence it out.

  • R. R. TOLKIEN, The Fellowship of the Ring

 

There is a seed of courage hidden (often deeply, it is true) in the heart of the fattest and most timid hobbit, waiting for some final and desperate danger to make it grow.

  • R. R. TOLKIEN, The Fellowship of the Ring

 

War must be, while we defend our lives against a destroyer who would devour all; but I do not love the bright sword for its sharpness, nor the arrow for its swiftness, nor the warrior for his glory. I love only that which they defend.

  • R. R. TOLKIEN, The Two Towers

 

Yet in doubt a man of worth will trust to his own wisdom.

  • R. R. TOLKIEN, The Two Towers

 

The guest who has escaped from the roof, will think twice before he comes back in by the door.

R. R. TOLKIEN, The Two Towers

 

The praise of the praiseworthy is above all rewards.

R. R. TOLKIEN, The Two Towers

 

The treacherous are ever distrustful.

  • R. R. TOLKIEN, The Two Towers

 

It is a comfort not to be mistaken at all points.

  • R. R. TOLKIEN, The Two Towers

 

Few other griefs amid the ill chances of this world have more bitterness and shame for a man’s heart than to behold the love of a lady so fair and brave that cannot be returned.

  • R. R. TOLKIEN, The Return of the King

 

Great heart will not be denied.

  • R. R. TOLKIEN, The Return of the King

 

Many folk like to know beforehand what is to be set on the table; but those who have laboured to prepare the feast like to keep their secret; for wonder makes the words of praise louder.

  • R. R. TOLKIEN, The Return of the King

 

It is not our part to master all the tides of the world, but to do what is in us for the succour of those years wherein we are set, uprooting the evil in the fields that we know, so that those who live after may have clean earth to till. What weather they shall have is not ours to rule.

  • R. R. TOLKIEN, The Return of the King

 

Where there’s a whip there’s a will, my slugs.

  • R. R. TOLKIEN, The Return of the King

 

If we all got angry together something might be done.

  • R. R. TOLKIEN, The Return of the King

 

I will not say, do not weep, for not all tears are an evil.

  • R. R. TOLKIEN, The Return of the King

 

How do you pick up the threads of an old life? How do you go on, when in your heart, you begin to understand, there is no going back? There are some things that time cannot mend. Some hurts that go too deep … that have taken hold.

  • R. R. TOLKIEN, The Return of the King

 

The world is full enough of hurts and mischances without wars to multiply them.

  • R. R. TOLKIEN, The Return of the King

 

It is useless to meet revenge with revenge: it will heal nothing.

  • R. R. TOLKIEN, The Return of the King

 

The whole thing is quite hopeless, so it’s no good worrying about tomorrow. It probably won’t come.

  • R. R. TOLKIEN, The Return of the King

 

Moonlight drowns out all but the brightest stars.

  • R. R. TOLKIEN, The Lord of the Rings

 

Do not scorn pity that is the gift of a gentle heart.

  • R. R. TOLKIEN, The Lord of the Rings

 

“I would rather share one lifetime with you than face all the ages of this world alone.” Arwen

  • R. R. TOLKIEN, The Lord of the Rings

 

 

LOVE

A Love Poem

(Lou Szymkow 14/2/2000)

Though the years have gone by, it must seem but a second
since you had that first kiss and your love began to beckon,
His smile attracted you,
Her beauty inspired you,

Just a glance warmed your heart,
and the mere thought of each other
kept you swooning even when apart,

You still yearn for a sweet caress,
a gentle kiss of finesse
those tender lips to thine,
your souls forever entwined
heart and soul and mind,

and when the world is full of plight
there is still a gentle kiss goodnight,
and all those worries turn to solutions
and you know,
all will be all right.

I Believe

By Tyler Knott Gregson

I believe
in love at first sight
but I will always believe
that the people
we love
we have loved before.
Many, many, many times before
and when we stumble
through grace and circumstance
and that brilliant illusion of choice
to finally meet them again,
we feel it faster
each time through.
The one glance
that set life alight
is two sets of two eyes
staring through the layers
of lifetimes and stolen glances
and first kisses and hands held;
the brace against the weight
and unrelenting tide
of waiting.
I believe
in love at first sight
but am not burdened with the misconception
that it’s a first sight
at all.

Love

by Lou Szymkow, 13/10/2000)

Love is more than a word
More than a caress
More than forever

Love is everything

Love

by Rod McKuen

Love,
Puts the music in laughter
the beauty in song
the warmth in a shoulder
the gentle in strong.
Love,
Puts the magic in memories
the sunshine in the skies
and gladness in giving
the starlight in eyes.
Love,
Puts the fun in together
the sad in apart
the hope in tomorrow
the joy in the heart.

Love Isn’t Always Perfect

By Author Unknown

Love isn’t always perfect
It isn’t a fairy-tale or a storybook.
And it doesn’t always come easy.
Love is overcoming obstacles, facing challenges, fighting to be together, holding on and never letting go. It is a short word, easy to spell, difficult to define, and impossible to live without. Love is work, but most of all, love is realising that every hour, every minute, and every second it was worth it because you did it together.

Love is the Reason

Anon

Love is the reason why this day was chosen by you both to begin your lives together – and love
is the reason why you both will give with all your hearts for the good of each other.
Love is the reason that together you will become one – one in hope, one in believing in life and
one in sharing the coming years.

Love Never fails

By Brandon Heath

Love is not proud
Love does not boast
Love after all
Matters the most

Love does not run
Love does not hide
Love does not keep
Locked inside

Love is the river that flows through
Love never fails you

Love will sustain
Love will provide

Love will not cease
At the end of time

Love will protect
Love always hopes
Love still believes
When you don’t

When your heart won’t make a sound
When you can’t turn back around
When the sky is falling down
Nothing is greater than this
Nothing is Greater than this

Love is right here
Love is alive
Love is the way
The truth, the life

Love is the river than flows through
Love is the arms that are holding you
Love is the place you will fly to
Love never, ever,  fails you

Love’s Philosophy

by P. B. Shelley:
The fountains mingle with the river and the rivers with the Ocean.
The winds of Heaven mix forever with sweet emotion;
Nothing in the world is single, all things by a law divine in one spirit meet and mingle.
Why not I with thine?
See the mountains kiss high heaven and the waves clasp one another;
No sister-flower would be forgiven if it disdained its brother;
And the sunlight clasps the earth and the moonbeams kiss the sea.
What is all this sweet work worth if thou kiss not me?

Love’s Union

by Tonica

Once I walked the path of life on my own
Though people came and went, I felt alone
I turned to speak a thought, but no-one could hear,
I needed someone close, but no-one was near,
That is until the day I met you …
Now my joy is doubled when I share it with you
And if there is pain, it is lessened, when carried by two
All the love you have to give me, I return with joy to you.
Come take my hand, my love, be my partner, my friend
To share the joys and the sorrows, the laughter and frowns.
As we travel through meadows and deserts, both uphill and down,
No longer alone but together, we two shall be one.
Joined together today as husband and wife.
Come … be my companion on the journey of life.

On Love

By Kahlil Gibran, from “The Prophet”

Love has no other desire but to fulfill itself
… To wake at dawn with a winged heart
And give thanks for another day of loving.
To rest at the noon hour and meditate love’s ecstasy.
To return home in even tide with gratitude,
Then sleep with a prayer
For the beloved in your heart
And a song of praise upon your lips.

Taking Time To Love

by Rod McKuen

Taking time to love is what it’s all about. What makes clocks turn and the sunsets come true and
without complication.
That doesn’t mean lying close in shut up rooms, or staying always face to face. It’s meant to
cover walking, being apart and knowing that coming back together makes small distances even
smaller.
And taking time to love is, most of all, caring enough to not hold on too tightly and yet not run
too loose.

The Best Is Yet To Be

By Joanna Fuchs

On your joyful wedding day,
You begin a brand new life.
Friends and family give their gifts
To joyful husband, blissful wife.

But the greatest gift you’ll ever get,
A gift from heaven above,
Is love forever, ending never,
Everlasting love.

You’ll share life’s joy and pleasure;
You’ll have plenty of that, it’s true.
But love is the real treasure
For your new spouse and you.

And if life hands you challenges,
As it does to one and all,
Your love will hold you steady
And never let you fall.

Your wedding day is full of joy;
Tomorrow you cannot see.
But one thing’s sure for the two of you:
The best is yet to be.

There Will Be Love this Time

Anon

The mark was made the day I took your hand
the morning breeze sang a song to the land
we were together and everything was fine.
I’ll be with you and there will be love this time.
And now we hear the ringing of bells
with promises and dreams to wish us well
It feels a part of heaven’s brilliant design.
I’ll come to you and there will be love this time.
And everywhere we hear voices sing
of tenderness and all that life will bring
the road it will unfold before our eyes.
I’ll stay with you and there will be love this time.

The Prophet (1)

by Kahlil 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 the 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 the lute are alone,
though they quiver with the same music.
Give your hearts, but not into each other’s keeping,
For only the hands 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.

The Prophet (2)

By 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 forevermore.
You shall be together when the white wings of death scatter your days.
Ay, you shall be together even in the silent memory of God.
But let there be spaces in your togetherness,
And let the winds of the heavens dance between you.
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.

The Two Trees

by: William Butler Yeats (1865-1939)
“The Two Trees” is reprinted from The Rose.  by W.B. Yeats. 1893

Beloved, gaze in thine own heart,
The holy tree is growing there;
From joy the holy branches start,
And all the trembling flowers they bear.
The changing colours of its fruit
Have dowered the stars with merry light;
The surety of its hidden root
Has planted quiet in the night;
The shaking of its leafy head
Has given the waves their melody,
And made my lips and music wed,
Murmuring a wizard song for thee.
There the Loves a circle go,
The flaming circle of our days,
Gyring, spiring to and fro
In those great ignorant leafy ways;
Remembering all that shaken hair
And how the wingèd sandals dart,
Thine eyes grow full of tender care:
Beloved, gaze in thine own heart.
Gaze no more in the bitter glass
The demons, with their subtle guile,
Lift up before us when they pass,
Or only gaze a little while;
For there a fatal image grows
That the stormy night receives,
Roots half hidden under snows,
Broken boughs and blackened leaves.
For all things turn to barrenness
In the dim glass the demons hold,
The glass of outer weariness,
Made when God slept in times of old.
There, through the broken branches, go
The ravens of unresting thought;
Flying, crying, to and fro,
Cruel claw and hungry throat,
Or else they stand and sniff the wind,
And shake their ragged wings; alas!
Thy tender eyes grow all unkind:
Gaze no more in the bitter glass.

Third Glass

by John Niederbuhl …….

Our love is like a bottle of wine
We’ve been drinking
A very, very long time–
What a joy it is to be with you,
Lifelong love of mine,
To bask in those glorious, blue eyes
And to know that I am thine!

We’ll have our third glass together
And after we’ve finished it all,
We’ll look at the bottle we’ve emptied
And find it again still full.

To Celia

by Ben Jonson

Drink to me, only, with thine eyes,
And I will pledge with mine;
Or leave a kiss but in the cup,
And I’ll not look for wine.
The thirst that from the soul doth rise,
Doth ask a drink divine:
But might I of Jove’s nectar sup,
I would not change for thine.

I sent thee, late, a rosy wreath,
Not so much honouring thee,
As giving it a hope, that there
It could not withered be.
But thou thereon didst only breathe,
And sent’st back to me:
Since when it grows, and smells, I swear,
Not of itself, but thee

Together

(Lou Szymkow 2017)

I look through the glass and see the trees and the grass
And the people getting on with their lives
But they do not know
The world travels by as I look to the sky
Not knowing our love
Not knowing us
I smile and I breath, the world is at ease
There is a peace in our love that cannot be lost
Knowing us
I close my eyes with pleasurable sighs
Knowing us

We

By Lou Szymkow, 04/09/2018

We played, we laughed
We grew, we smiled,
We felt each others pains and enjoyed each others gains
We were children and then we were teens
We lived our lives and all the in-betweens
We fell in love along the way and now cannot imagine it being any other way
We now take each others’ hands and hearts and today exchange rings,  so we’ll never be apart

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MARRIAGE

Happiness In Marriage

By Wilferd Arlan Peterson

Happiness in marriage is not something that just happens.

A good marriage must be created.
In marriage the “little” things are the big things.
It is never being too old to hold hands.
It is remembering to say, ”I love you” at least once a day.
It is never going to sleep angry.
It is standing together and facing the world.
It is speaking words of appreciation, and demonstrating gratitude in thoughtful ways.
It is having the capacity to forgive and forget.
It is giving each other an atmosphere in which each can grow.
It is a common search for the good and the beautiful.
It is not only marrying the right person — it is being the right partner

He’s Not Perfect

By Bob Marley

He’s not perfect.
You aren’t either,
and the two of you will never be perfect.
But if he can make you laugh at least once,
causes you to think twice,
and if he admits to being human and making mistakes,
hold onto him and give him the most you can.
He isn’t going to quote poetry,
he’s not thinking about you every moment,
but he will give you a part of him that he knows you could break.
Don’t hurt him, don’t change him, and don’t expect for more than he can give. Don’t analyze.
Smile when he makes you happy,
yell when he makes you mad,
and miss him when he’s not there.
Love hard when there is love to be had.
Because perfect guys don’t exist,
but there’s always one guy that is perfect for you.

Married Love

Kuan Tao-Sheng (1262-1319), Translated from the Chinese by Kenneth Rexroth and Ling Chung

You and I
Have so much love
That it
Burns like a fire,
In which we bake a lump of clay
Molded into a figure of you
And a figure of me.
Then we take both of them,
And break them into pieces,
And mix the pieces with water,
And mold again a figure of you,
And a figure of me.
I am in your clay.
You are in my clay.
In life we share a single quilt.
In death we will share one bed.

Marriage Joins Two People in the Circle of Its Love

By Edmund O’Neill

Marriage is a commitment to life, to the best that two people can find and bring out in each other.
It offers opportunities for sharing and growth that no other human relationship can equal, a joining that is promised for a lifetime.
Within the circle of its love, marriage encompasses all of life’s most important relationships.
A wife and a husband are each other’s best friend, confidant, lover, teacher, listener, and critic.
There may come times when one partner is heartbroken or ailing, and the love of the other may resemble the tender caring of a parent for a child.
Marriage deepens and enriches every facet of life.
Happiness is fuller; memories are fresher; commitment is stronger; even anger is felt more strongly, and passes away more quickly.
Marriage understands and forgives the mistakes life is unable to avoid. It encourages and nurtures new life, new experiences, and new ways of expressing love through the seasons of life.
When two people pledge to love and care for each other in marriage they create a spirit unique to themselves, which binds them closer than any spoken or written words.
Marriage is a promise, a potential, made in the hearts of two people who love, which takes a lifetime to fulfill.

Of Man and Wife

by Richard Edes

No love to love of man and wife;
No hope to hope of constant heart;
No joy to joy in wedded life;
No faith to faith in either part:
Flesh is of flesh, and bone of bone
When deeds and words and thoughts are one.

Thy friend an other friend may be,
But other self is not the same;
Thy spouse the self-same is with thee,
In body, mind, in goods and name:
No thine, no mine, may other call,
For all is one, and one is all.

  Oh no – not even when first we loved

by Thomas Moore

Oh, no – not even when first we loved
Wert thou as dear as now thou art;
Thy beauty then my senses moved,
But now thy virtues bind my heart.
What was but passion’s sigh before,
Has since been turned to reason’s vow;
And, though I then might love thee more
Trust me, I love thee better now.

Although my heart in earlier youth
Might kindle with more wild desire,
Believe me, it has gained in truth
Much more than it has lost in fire.
The flame now warms my inmost core,
That then but sparkled over my brow,
And, though I seemed to love thee more,
Yet, oh, I love thee better now.

On Marriage

By Kahlil Gibran, from “The Prophet”

You were born to be together, and together you shall be forevermore.
You shall be together when the wings of death scatter your days.
Ay, you shall be together even in your silent memory.
But let there be spaces in your togetherness,
and let the winds of the heavens dance between you.
Love one another, but make not a bondage 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 of the same loaf.
Sing and dance together and be joyous, but let each 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.

The Art of a Good Marriage

(excerpt)  by Wilferd Arlan Peterson

A good marriage must be created.
In marriage the “little” things are the big things.
It is never being too old to hold hands.
It is remembering to say, ”I love you” at least once a day.
It is never going to sleep angry.
It is having a mutual sense of values, and common objectives.
It is standing together and facing the world.
It is forming a circle that gathers in the whole family.
It is speaking words of appreciation, and demonstrating gratitude in thoughtful ways.
It is having the capacity to forgive and forget.
It is giving each other an atmosphere in which each can grow.
It is a common search for the good and the beautiful.
It is not only marrying the right person — it is being the right partner

The Art of Marriage

By Wilferd Arlan Peterson

Happiness in marriage is not something that just happens. A good marriage must be created.
In the art of marriage, the little things are big things…
It is never being too old to hold hands.
It is remembering to say “I love you” at least once a day.
It is never going to sleep angry.
It is never taking the other for granted; the courtship should not end with the honeymoon,
it should continue through all the years.
It is having a mutual sense of values and common objectives.
It is standing together facing the world.
It is forming a circle of love that gathers in the whole family.
It is doing things for each other, not in the attitude of duty or sacrifice, but in the spirit of joy.
It is speaking words of appreciation and demonstrating gratitude in thoughtful ways.
It is not expecting the husband to wear a halo or the wife to have wings of an angel.
It is not looking for perfection in each other.
It is cultivating flexibility, patience, understanding and a sense of humour.
It is having the capacity to forgive and forget.
It is giving each other an atmosphere in which each can grow.
It is finding room for the things of the spirit.
It is a common search for the good and the beautiful.
It is establishing a relationship in which the independence is equal,
dependence is mutual and the obligation is reciprocal.
It is not only marrying the right partner, it is being the right partner

The Promises of Marriage

By Bettie Meeks

Marriage is a promise of companionship,
of having someone to share all of life’s experiences.
Marriage does not promise that there will not be any rough times,
just the assurance that there will always be someone
who cares and will help you through to better times.
Marriage does not promise eternal romance,
just eternal love and commitment.
Marriage can’t prevent disappointments, disillusionment, or grief,
but it can offer hope, acceptance, and comfort.
Marriage can’t protect you from making individual choices
or shelter you from the world, but it will help to reassure you
that there is someone by your side who truly cares.
When the world hurts you and makes you feel vulnerable,
marriage offers the promise that there will
be someone waiting to listen, to console, to inspire.
Marriage is the joining of two people who share the promise that only marriage can make:
to share the sunshine and the shadows,
and to experience a richer, more fulfilling life
because of it.

To a Friend

by Amy Lowell

I ask but one thing of you, only one.
That you will always be my dream of you;
That never shall I wake to fine untrue
All this I have believed and rested on,
Forever vanished, like a vision gone
Out into the night. Alas, how few
There are who strike in us a chord we knew
Existed, but so seldom heard its tone
We tremble at the half-forgotten sound.
The world is full of rude awakenings
And heaven-born castles shattered to the ground,
Yet still our human longing vainly clings
To a belief in beauty through all wrongs.
O stay your hand, and leave my heart its songs!

To My Dear and Loving Husband

by Anne Bradstreet

If ever two were one, then surely we.
If every man were loved by wife, then thee.
If ever wife was happy in a man,
Compare with me, ye women, if you can.
I prize thy love more than whole mines of gold,
Or all the riches that the East doth hold.
My love is such that rivers cannot quench,
Nor aught but love from thee give recompense.
Thy love is such I can no way repay,
The heavens reward thee manifold, I pray.
Then while we live, in love let’s so perséver,
That when we live no more, we may live ever.

When Two People Are at One

by I Ching

When two people are at one
in their inmost hearts
They shatter even the strength of iron
or of bronze
And when two people understand each other
in their inmost hearts
Their words are sweet and strong
like the fragrance of orchids.

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MARRYING AGAIN

I Believe In A Second Chance

by Egyptian Heart

I believe that the sun shines after the rain
I believe if you don’t get hurt you’ll never gain
I believe in not doing things the easy way
I believe that being selfish doesn’t pay

I believe in a second chance
I believe in a life long romance
I believe there is life after death
And standing up to a life of mess

I believe in love at first sight
I believe that revenge isn’t right
I believe that first impressions last
And there is nothing better then a good laugh

I believe that dreams do come true, I believe there’s destiny for me and you,
I believe something good comes from something bad I believe everyone has one true love

I believe there’s destiny for me and you
I believe that good things come to those who wait
I believe love never arrives too late

I believe something good comes from something bad
I believe that for tears of happiness there are tears of sad
I believe everyone has a guardian angel
And the good you do will be rewarded well

I believe sometimes there is no explanation
I believe money can’t buy people’s affection
I believe you don’t know what you’ve got until it’s gone
I believe a new day arrives with every dawn

I believe a smile can be contagious
I believe in being very outrageous
I believe in living with no regrets
I believe that life is as good as it gets

I believe that God watches over us
I believe the little things are worth the fuss
I believe you have each friend for a reason
I believe you will get punished for treason

I believe that what comes first is family
I believe we should all live in harmony
I believe in making the most of a beautiful day
And it’s not the end until everything’s okay

I believe absence makes the heart grow fonder
I believe you will lose if you sit and wonder
I believe every experience teaches you a lesson
And nothing cures better than a drinking session

I believe everyone has one true love
I believe sometimes we need a little shove
I believe the whole world is a stage
I believe we only get better with age

I believe that to learn you have to live
I believe that to love someone you have to give
I believe one moment can change your life
And there’s still help when you’re in strife

I believe everyone has one true friend
I believe love helps a broken heart mend
I believe in the power of a song
And things will change before too long

I believe living is the best experience
I believe in not laughing at other people’s expense
I believe it’s hard to watch a lover leave
And when they’re gone all you can do is breath

I believe to always look on the bright side
I believe that life is just one big ride
I believe when I die people will grieve
But it’s ok because I believe

Maybe

by igor Oro

To stand on the street corner and watch these two streets meet, I suddenly feel at peace.
Maybe it’s because at my feet lies the intersection of two distinct paths forming at the point of vulnerability.
Maybe it’s because it’s a reminder of you and me. And the blissful bond we both shared.
Without a care in the world, my arms wrapped around you to shelter you from the cold.
Two souls kept warm by each other’s company.
Two hearts dancing in the rain playfully.
Two minds with the same thing in mind.
You want me to be yours and I want you to be mine.
I don’t know maybe I’m crazy.
Maybe time has finally out played me.
Maybe I stopped seeing beauty in the little things.
Maybe I’ve stopped appreciating the gift life brings.
Maybe I’m in over my head.
Or maybe I just miss the familiar contours of your body under my chalk white sheets of my bed.
I don’t know maybe this is normal.
Maybe I stopped being myself after you left.
Maybe this is all a test.
Maybe I failed and I couldn’t clean up the mess.
Maybe that’s why the rain suddenly feels colder on my skin.
Maybe that’s why when I try to apologise I don’t know where to begin or where to end.
All these things I’ve typed up in my mind that I wanna tell you I just can’t bring myself to hit send.
Maybe I fucked up and I won’t admit it maybe I’m a coward.
Seems like I’ve got all the time in the world, maybe I should do something about it.
Every minute without you feels like an hour.
Maybe I’m a fool for distancing myself from you.
Maybe that’s why I couldn’t admit that I loved you.
Because for some reason,
I couldn’t accept that maybe,
just maybe, you could have loved me too.

Maybe…

By Author Unknown

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 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. Find the one that makes your heart smile.

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.

Maybe… it’s not just about finding the right person, it is about being the right partner

Second Chance On Love

by Sandra Finch

Miracles happen, dreams do come true.
The proof is this love, I have for you.
Your every wish, I’ll make come true,
cause darlin’, I’m so much in love with you.
God’s given us a second chance on love
A love that will last and last.
A second chance on a love so true.
A lifetime to show my love for you.
Your kind, generous heart filled
with so much love to give.

I want to be with you for as long as I live.
Share all the joys and sorrows
God gives to us.

I give myself to you my love,

my hearts’ filled with trust
Today and forever, you’ll
always be the one. I’ll be with you
darlin’ until our days on earth are done.

The Second Time Around

Frank Sinatra; Songwriters: Arthur L. Porter

lyrics © The Bicycle Music Company

Love is lovelier the second time around
Just as wonderful with both feet on the ground
It’s that second time you hear your love song sung
Makes you think perhaps that love, like youth, is wasted on the young
Love’s more comfortable the second time you fall
Like a friendly home the second time you call
Who can say what brought us to this miracle we’ve found?
There are those who’ll bet love comes but once, and yet
I’m oh, so glad we met the second time around
Who can say what brought us to this miracle we’ve found?
There are those who’ll bet love comes but once, and yet
I’m oh, so glad we met the second time around

MOVIES (Excerpts from movies)

Captain Corelli’s Mandolin (Excerpt)

by Louis de Bernières

Love is a temporary madness.
It erupts like volcanoes and then subsides.
And when it subsides, you have to make a decision.
You have to work out whether your roots have so entwined together
that it is inconceivable that you should ever part.
Because this is what love is.
Love is not breathlessness,
It is not excitement,
It is not the promulgation of eternal passion.
That is just being “in love” which any fool can do.
Love itself is what is left over when being in love has burned away,
And this is both an art and a fortunate accident.
Those that truly love, have roots that grow towards each other underground,
And when all the pretty blossom have fallen from their branches,
They find that they are one tree and not two.

MULTICULTURAL

Apache Blessing

May the sun bring you new energy by day,
Many the moon softly restore you by night,
May the rain wash away your worries
And the breeze blow new strength into your being,
And all of the days of your life may you walk
Gently through the world and know its beauty.

Apache Wedding Blessing

By non-indigenous author Elliot Arnold, (1947 novel Blood Brothers, & in the film 1950 adaptation Broken Arrow – the poem has no indigenous origin)

Now you will feel no storms,
for each of you will be shelter to the other.
Now you will feel no cold,
for each of you will be warmth to the other.
Now there is no loneliness,
for each of you is companion to the other,
You are two persons,
but there is one life before you, and one home.
Turn together to look at the road you travelled,
to reach this—the hour of your happiness.
It stretches behind you into the past.
Look to the future that lies ahead.
A long and winding, adventure-filled road,
whose every turn means discovery,
new hopes, new joys, new laughter,
and a few shared tears.
May happiness be your companion,
May beauty surround you both in the journey ahead;
And through all the years to come.
Go this day to your dwelling place
and enter into your days together.
May your days be good and long
upon the earth.
Your adventure has just begun!

Blessing the Marriage

By Jelaluddin Rumi

May these vows and this marriage be blessed.
May it be sweet milk,
this marriage, like wine and halvah.
May this marriage offer fruit and shade
like the date palm.
May this marriage be full of laughter,
our every day a day in paradise.
May this marriage be a sign of compassion,
a seal of happiness here and hereafter.
May this marriage have a fair face and a good name,
an omen as welcomes the moon in a clear blue sky.
I am out of words to describe
how spirit mingles in this marriage.

Cherokee Prayer

God in heaven above, please protect the ones we love.
We honour all you created as we pledge our hearts and lives together.
We honour mother-earth — and ask for our marriage to be abundant and grow stronger through the seasons;
We honour fire — and ask that our union be warm and glowing with love in our hearts;
We honour wind — and ask we sail through life safe and calm as in our father’s arms;
We honour water — to clean and soothe our relationship — that it may never thirsts for love;
With all the forces of the universe you created, we pray for harmony and true happiness as we forever grow young together.
Amen.

Eskimo Love Song

Author Unknown

You are my husband,
You are my wife.
My feet shall run because of you.
My feet dance because of you.
My heart shall beat because of you.
My eyes see because of you.
My mind thinks because of you.
And I shall love, because of you.

Hawaiian Song

Here all seeking is over
The lost has been found,
A mate has been found
To share the chills of winter-
Now love asks
That you be united.
Here is a place to rest,
A place to sleep,
A place in heaven.
Now two are becoming one,
The black night scattered
The eastern sky grows bright.
At last the great day has come!

Hindu Marriage Poem

You have become mine forever.
Yes, we have become partners. I have become yours.
Hereafter, I cannot live without you.
Do not live without me.
Let us share the joys.
We are word and meaning, unite.
You are thought and I am sound.
May the night be honey-sweet for us.
May the sun be all honey for us.
May the mornings be honey-sweet for us.
May the plants be honey-sweet for us.
May the earth be honey-sweet for us.

Navajo Prayer

When you were children, you talked like children,
But now that you’ve grown, you should be done
with childish things and put them away.
When you were children, you looked into a mirror
that gave only a blurred reflection of reality.
But with love and maturity, you shouldn’t be
afraid to look into that mirror and see each other face to face.
Be swift like the wind in loving each other.
Be brave like the sea in loving each other.
Be gentle like the breeze in loving each other.
Be patient like the sun who waits and watches
the four changes of the earth in loving each other.
Be wise like the roaring of the thunderclouds and lightening in loving each other.
Be shining like the morning dawn in loving each other.
Be flexible like the sapling that bends with the wind in loving each other.
Be brilliant like the rainbow colors in loving each other,
Now, forever, forever, there will be no more loneliness
Because your words are joined together with the world.
Forever, forever.

Norito (Japanese blessing)

Bless them as unmoving and eternal
May their lives flourish like luxuriant trees.
May they, bride and groom, together with heaven and earth, with the sun and the
moon, continue to give out light and radiance.
Thus we do reverently pray.

On Love

By Kahlil Gibran, from “The Prophet”

Love has no other desire but to fulfill itself
… To wake at dawn with a winged heart
And give thanks for another day of loving.
To rest at the noon hour and meditate love’s ecstasy.
To return home in even tide with gratitude,
Then sleep with a prayer
For the beloved in your heart
And a song of praise upon your lips.

On Marriage

By Kahlil Gibran, from “The Prophet”

You were born to be together, and together you shall be forevermore.
You shall be together when the wings of death scatter your days.
Ay, you shall be together even in your silent memory.
But let there be spaces in your togetherness,
and let the winds of the heavens dance between you.
Love one another, but make not a bondage 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 of the same loaf.
Sing and dance together and be joyous, but let each 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.

Fairy of the Magpie Bridge

Qin Guan of in the Song Dynasty (960-1279).

Yonder clouds weaving together
Amidst the flaming stars
Drifting along the heavenlies
Bringing two Lovers from afar

The Lovers’ rendezvous tonight
Adorned the autumn sky
No joy on earth e’en a hundred thousand times
May compare to the Lovers’ meeting eyes

Precious and tender, the Lovers’ love
‘twas like a beautiful beautiful dream
Yet gazing mournfully at the magpie bridge
That will set them apart again

But Eternal Lovers if they were so
Will time apart they not endure?

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NERDS & SCIENCE

Binding Together

By Author Unknown (but possibly from TC Series Numb3rs)

At the request of the bride and groom, I’ll keep my remarks short and not technical.
Well, as you all know, the four fundamental forces of physics:
electromagnetism,
strong nuclear interaction,
weak nuclear interaction, and
gravity.
We’ve been talking here about the forces that bind the universe. But what binds humans?
Love.
Powerful in small spaces, yet with profound effect on distance.
Love defies time, outliving both its source, and its object.
Love is faster than light, for light requires time in order to travel through space.
But love reaches its object instantaneously.
Love journeys forever, into infinity.
And it’s here, binding together two lives.

OLD STYLE

How Do I Love Thee?

by Elizabeth Barrett Browning

How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.
I love thee to the depth and breadth and height
My soul can reach, when feeling out of sight
For the ends of Being and ideal Grace.
I love thee to the level of every day’s
Most quiet need, by sun and candlelight.
I love thee freely, as men strive for Right;
I love thee purely, as they turn from Praise.
I love with a passion put to use
In my old griefs, and with my childhood’s faith.
I love thee with a love I seemed to lose
With my lost saints,—I love thee with the breath,
Smiles, tears, of all my life!—and, if God choose,
I shall but love thee better after death.

If I were loved, as I desire to be

by Alfred, Lord Tennyson

If I were loved, as I desire to be,
What is there in the great sphere of the earth,
And range of evil between death and birth,
That I should fear, – if I were loved by thee?
All the inner, all the outer world of pain
Clear love would pierce and cleave, if thou wert mine,
As I have heard that, somewhere in the main,
Fresh-water springs come up through bitter brine.
‘Twere joy, not fear, clasped hand-in-hand with thee,
To wait for death – mute – careless of all ills,
Apart upon a mountain, though the surge
Of some new deluge from a thousand hills
Flung leagues of roaring foam into the gorge
Below us, as far on as eye could see.

I Like You

by Sandol Stoddard Warburg

I like you and I know why.
I like you because you are a good person to like.
I like you because when I tell you something special, you know it’s special
And you remember it a long, long time.
You say, “Remember when you told me something special?”
And both of us remember

When I think something is important
you think it’s important too
We have good ideas
When I say something funny, you laugh
I think I’m funny and you think I’m funny too
Hah-hah!

I like you because you know where I’m ticklish
And you don’t tickle me there except just a little tiny bit sometimes
But if you do, then I know where to tickle you too

You know how to be silly
That’s why I like you
Boy are you ever silly
I never met anybody sillier than me till I met you
I like you because you know when it’s time to stop being silly
Maybe day after tomorrow
Maybe never
Too late, it’s a quarter past silly!

Sometimes we don’t say a word
We snurkle under fences
We spy secret places
If I am a goofus on the roofus hollering my head off
You are one too
If I pretend I am drowning, you pretend you are saving me
If I am getting ready to pop a paper bag,
then you are getting ready to jump
HOORAY!

That’s because you really like me
You really like me, don’t you?
And I really like you back
And you like me back and I like you back
And that’s the way we keep on going every day

If you go away, then I go away too
or if I stay home, you send me a postcard
You don’t just say “Well see you around sometime, bye”
I like you a lot because of that
If I go away, I send you a postcard too
And I like you because if we go away together
And if we are in Grand Central Station
And if I get lost
Then you are the one that is yelling for me

And I like you because when I am feeling sad
You don’t always cheer me up right away
Sometimes it is better to be sad
You can’t stand the others being so googly and gaggly every single minute
You want to think about things
It takes time
I like you because if I am mad at you
Then you are mad at me too
It’s awful when the other person isn’t
They are so nice and hoo-hoo you could just about punch them in the nose

I like you because if I think I am going to throw up
then you are really sorry
You don’t just pretend you are busy looking at the birdies and all that
You say, maybe it was something you ate
You say, the same thing happened to me one time
And the same thing did

If you find two four-leaf clovers, you give me one
If I find four, I give you two
If we only find three, we keep on looking
Sometimes we have good luck, and sometimes we don’t
If I break my arm, and if you break your arm too
Then it’s fun to have a broken arm
I tell you about mine, you tell me about yours
We are both sorry
We write our names and draw pictures
We show everybody and they wish they had a broken arm too

I like you because I don’t know why but
Everything that happens is nicer with you
I can’t remember when I didn’t like you
It must have been lonesome then
I like you because because because
I forget why I like you but I do

So many reasons
On the 4th of July I like you because it’s the 4th of July
On the fifth of July, I like you too
If you and I had some drums and some horns and some horses
If we had some hats and some flags and some fire engines
We could be a HOLIDAY
We could be a CELEBRATION
We could be a WHOLE PARADE

See what I mean?
Even if it was the 999th of July
Even if it was August
Even if it was way down at the bottom of November
Even if it was no place particular in January
I would go on choosing you
And you would go on choosing me
Over and over again

That’s how it would happen every time
I don’t know why
I guess I don’t know why I really like you
Why do I like you
I guess I just like you
I guess I just like you because I like you.

I Said A Prayer For You Today

Benedictine Abbey, Kylemore

I said a prayer for you today and know
God must have heard,
I felt the answer in my heart although
He spoke no word!
I didn’t ask for wealth of fame
(I knew He wouldn’t mind) – I asked him
to send treasures
of a far more lasting kind!
I asked that He’d be near you at the start
of each new day
To grant you health and blessings
and friends to share your way!
I asked for happiness
for you in all things great and small –
But it was for His loving care I prayed
the most of all

She Walks In Beauty

The year of 1813 saw the publishing of one of Byron’s most celebrated collections, The Jewish Melodies. “She Walks in Beauty” is the opening poem of the collection and is presumed to have been inspired by Mrs. John Wilmot, whose magnificent beauty impressed Byron on meeting her. The poem illustrates the external and internal beauty of his subject, an unnamed woman whose internal innocence is reflected in her soft visage, while depicting a contrast of darkness and light. “She Walks in Beauty” is an excellent example of the magic that Byron, a true master of poetry, could conjure in his works.

She Walks In Beauty

by: George Gordon (Lord) Byron (1788-1824)

She walks in beauty, like the night
Of cloudless climes and starry skies;
And all that’s best of dark and bright
Meet in her aspect and her eyes:
Thus mellowed to that tender light
Which heaven to gaudy day denies.

One shade the more, one ray the less,
Had half impaired the nameless grace
Which waves in every raven tress,
Or softly lightens o’er her face;
Where thoughts serenely sweet express,
How pure, how dear their dwelling-place.

And on that cheek, and o’er that brow,
So soft, so calm, yet eloquent,
The smiles that win, the tints that glow,
But tell of days in goodness spent,
A mind at peace with all below,
A heart whose love is innocent!

Read more at http://www.poetry-archive.com/b/she_walks_in_beauty.html#w13m2m3LFvlJkuad.99

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PARENT – Reading by a parent

 A New Chapter

By author unknown.

 

Today is a very special day, for it is the day you start another chapter in your book of life. As parents we always know that one day our children will grow to need much more than we can offer. Now that day has finally arrived, and you have both found the special person with whom you want to share your love and your life. Someone who can make the sun shine in your heart – even on the cloudiest of days, and someone who will fill the next chapter in your life with happiness beyond your dreams.

Live the life you believe in and you will have everything you need to reach those dreams. Just look into your hearts and you will find the strength in each other that will make each new challenge easier to face – TOGETHER.

The close friends and family, sharing this day with you, all have memories very precious and personal to each of them, but would ask only this of both of you:

Always give the best of yourselves to each other and ask no more than you can give.

Accept one another for the way you are. You fell in love with the qualities and abilities and the outlook on life that you both have – don’t try to change them.

Share your time, your close attention, and bring joy, strength and imagination into your relationship.

Grow along with each other; be willing to face changes as you both change in order to keep your relationship alive and exciting.

And, most importantly, love each other in good times and in bad in the only way you know how. Completely and forever.

A Parent’s Tribute

By author unknown.

Today seemed a lifetime away, now suddenly it’s here
How did it happen so quickly, this wedding drawing near?
How can I sound so happy on this very special day,
When in such a very short time I’ll give my daughter away.
I wish I could grasp a moment and make the clock stand still
So I could let my heart catch up, but I know I never will
All the worries of being a parent, most of the battles won
But no-one ever warned me about the day the job is done.
Yet there is another side, where my heart is not so sad
When I look into my daughter’s eyes, I feel joyful and glad
For I know that I was privileged when this child was lent to me
To love and care for and nurture, so she would grow to be
This lovely, bright young woman, today – a beautiful bride
And as always I and there, with love, at my daughter’s side.

 

PARTNERS IN MARRIAGE

 

Fair Dinkum Love

By Kim Cockerell

Fair dinkum love isn’t about bringing in a dozen red roses
It’s about bringing in the washing.
It’s not about standing next to your partner
because they look good on your arm
It’s about standing by them even when they look foolish.
Fair dinkum love isn’t about stiff posture and smart clothes
It’s about wrestling on the couch in your tracksuit.
It’s not about oysters and candle-lit dinners
It’s about bringing home Chinese when your partner’s had a busy day.
Fair dinkum love isn’t about exciting getaways and fancy resorts
It’s about being totally content sleeping-in together at home.
It’s not about gym memberships and facelifts
It’s about growing old and fat together.
Fair dinkum love is not about romance or image or success.
Fair dinkum love is about two average people adoring and accepting each other for who they are.

 

Happiness In Marriage

by Wilferd Arlan Peterson

Happiness in marriage is not something that just happens.

A good marriage must be created.
In marriage the “little” things are the big things.
It is never being too old to hold hands.
It is remembering to say, ”I love you” at least once a day.
It is never going to sleep angry.
It is standing together and facing the world.
It is speaking words of appreciation, and demonstrating gratitude in thoughtful ways.
It is having the capacity to forgive and forget.
It is giving each other an atmosphere in which each can grow.
It is a common search for the good and the beautiful.
It is not only marrying the right person — it is being the right partner

 

Hindu Marriage Poem

You have become mine forever.
Yes, we have become partners.
I have become yours.
Hereafter, I cannot live without you.
Do not live without me.
Let us share the joys.
We are word and meaning, unite.
You are thought and I am sound.

May the nights be honey-sweet for us.
May the mornings be honey-sweet for us.
May the plants be honey-sweet for us.
May the earth be honey-sweet for us.

 

Love’s Union

by Tonica

Once I walked the path of life on my own
Though people came and went, I felt alone
I turned to speak a thought, but no-one could hear,
I needed someone close, but no-one was near,
That is until the day I met you …
Now my joy is doubled when I share it with you
And if there is pain, it is lessened, when carried by two
All the love you have to give me, I return with joy to you.
Come take my hand, my love, be my partner, my friend
To share the joys and the sorrows, the laughter and frowns.
As we travel through meadows and deserts, both uphill and down,
No longer alone but together, we two shall be one.
Joined together today as husband and wife.
Come … be my companion on the journey of life.

 

Partnership

By Tene Edwards

I crave a love that adds value to my life.
I don’t want a relationship,
I want a partnership.
Someone to aid me up the mountain of life
and guide me through the valleys of adversity.
Someone who is able to breathe in sync
and dance by my side through thick and thin.
I want that grind-together kind of love,
with a best friend I can build an empire beside.

 

POLISH LINKS

The First Letter of Saint Paul to the Corinthians (in Polish)

Gdybym mówił językami ludzi i aniołów,
a miłości bym nie miał,
stałbym się jak miedź brzęcząca
albo cymbał brzmiący.
Gdybym też miał dar prorokowania
i znał wszystkie tajemnice,
i posiadał wszelką wiedzę,
i wszelką [możliwą] wiarę, tak iżbym góry przenosił.
a miłości bym nie miał,
byłbym niczym.
I gdybym rozdał na jałmużnę całą majętność
moją,
a ciało wystawił na spalenie,
lecz miłości bym nie miał,
nic bym nie zyskał.
Miłość cierpliwa jest,
łaskawa jest.
Miłość nie zazdrości,
nie szuka poklasku,
nie unosi się pychą;
nie dopuszcza się bezwstydu,
nie szuka swego,
nie unosi się gniewem,
nie pamięta złego;
nie cieszy się z niesprawiedliwości,
lecz współweseli się z prawdą.
Wszystko znosi,
wszystkiemu wierzy,
we wszystkim pokłada nadzieję,
wszystko przetrzyma.
Miłość nigdy nie ustaje,
nie jest] jak proroctwa, które się skończą,
albo jak dar języków, który zniknie,
lub jak wiedza, której zabraknie.
Po części bowiem tylko poznajemy,
po części prorokujemy.
Gdy zaś przyjdzie to, co jest doskonałe,
zniknie to, co jest tylko częściowe.
Gdy byłem dzieckiem,
mówiłem jak dziecko,
czułem jak dziecko,
myślałem jak dziecko.
Kiedy zaś stałem się mężem,
wyzbyłem się tego, co dziecięce.
Teraz widzimy jakby w zwierciadle, niejasno;
wtedy zaś [zobaczymy] twarzą w twarz:
Teraz poznaję po części,
wtedy zaś poznam tak, jak i zostałem poznany.
Tak więc trwają wiara, nadzieja, miłość – te trzy:
z nich zaś największa jest miłość.

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QUOTES

Everyone has a friend during each stage of life.
Some are fortunate to have the same friend in all stages of life
– unknown

A true friend is someone who understands your past, believes in your future and accepts you just as you are.
– unknown

The one you choose to marry is all of that but more,
As this is the person before you, who treasures your past: the good and the not-so-good,
because that has made you the person you are today;
believes in your future together and can see no other,
and cherishes you just as you are.
– Lou Szymkow

Strive for the impossible and achieve the extraordinary.
-various

“When you want something, all the universe conspires in helping you to achieve it.”
― Paulo Coelho, The Alchemist

“When we love, we always strive to become better than we are. When we strive to become better than we are, everything around us becomes better too.”
― Paulo Coelho, The Alchemist

“A life with love will have some thorns, but a life without love will have no roses.”
– Author unknown

“Love is like standing in wet cement, the longer you stay the harder to leave and you can never leave without leaving your marks behind.”
Author unknown

“As long as I can I will look at this world for both of us. As long as I can I will laugh with the birds, I will sing with the flowers, I will pray to the stars, for both of us.”
– Sascha

“Without you in my arms, I feel an emptiness in my soul. I find myself searching the crowds for your face – I know it’s an impossibility, but I cannot help myself.”
Nicholas Sparks ‘Message In A Bottle’

“Every heart has its secret sorrows which the world knows not, and oftentimes we call a man cold, when he is only sad.”
– Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

“Forgiveness is healing … especially forgiving yourself.”
Alyson Noel ‘Evermore’

“Of all Sad Words of Tongue or Pen, the Saddest are these, “It Might Have Been.”
– George Ade ‘More Fables’

“A ton of regret never makes an ounce of difference.”
– Grenville Kleiser ‘Dictionary Of Proverbs’

“Words have the power to both destroy and heal. When words are both true and kind, they can change our world.”
 -Buddhist quote

“Do not dwell in the past, do not dream of the future, concentrate the mind on the present moment.”
– Buddhist quote

“People touch our lives if only for a moment, And yet we’re not the same from that moment on, The time is not important, The moment is forever.”
– Fern Bork

“Some people come in your life as blessings. Some come in your life as lessons.”
– Mother Teresa

“The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even touched. They must be felt with the heart.”
– Helen Keller

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REFLECTION & EDUCATION

Man in the Mirror

1934-By Dale Wimbrow (1895-1954),

When you get what you want in your struggle for wealth
And the world makes you King for a day,
Then go to the mirror and look at yourself,
And see what that guy has to say.
For it isn’t your Father, or Mother, or Wife,
Who judgement upon you must pass.
The feller whose verdict counts most in your life
Is the guy staring back from the glass.
He’s the feller to please, never mind all the rest,
For he’s with you clear up to the end,
And you’ve passed your most dangerous, difficult test
If the guy in the glass is your friend.
You can fool the whole world down the pathway of years,
And get pats on the back as you pass,
But your final reward will be heartaches and tears
If you’ve cheated the guy in the glass.
He’s the fellow to please, never mind all the rest
For he’s with you clear up to the end
And you’ve passed your most dangerous, difficult test
If the man in the glass is your friend

Nails in a Fence …

Anon

There once was a little boy who had a bad temper. His father gave him a bag of nails and told him that every time he lost his temper, he must hammer a nail into the back of the fence.
The first day the boy had driven 37 nails into the fence.
Over the next few weeks, as he learned to control his anger, the number of nails hammered daily gradually dwindled down.
He discovered it was easier to hold his temper than to drive those nails into the fence….
Finally the day came when the boy didn’t lose his temper at all.
He told his father about it and the father suggested that the boy now pull out one nail for each day that he was able to hold his temper.
The day passed and the young boy was finally able to tell his father that all the nails were gone.
The father took his son by the hand and led him to the fence.
He said, “You have done well, my son, but look at the holes in the fence.
The fence will never be the same. When you say things in anger, they leave a scar just like this one.
You can put a knife in a man and draw it out.
It won’t matter how many times you say I’m sorry, the wound is still there.”
A verbal wound is as bad as a physical one.
Friends are a very rare jewel indeed. They make you smile and encourage you to succeed.
They lend an ear, they share words of praise and they always want to open their hearts to us.”
Please forgive me if I have ever left a hole in your fence.

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RELIGIOUS (BIBLICAL) READINGS FOR WEDDINGS

SEE ALSO:

Catholic Wedding Responsorial Psalms

  • Psalm 33:12 and 18, 20-21, 22 The earth is full of the goodness of the Lord
  • Psalm 34:2-3, 4-5, 6-7, 8-9 I will bless the Lord at all times
  • Psalm 103:1-2, 8 and 13, 17-18a The Lord is kind and merciful
  • Psalm 112:1bc-2, 3-4, 5-7a, 7b-8, 9 Happy are those who do what the Lord commands
  • Psalm 128:1-2, 3, 4-5 Happy are those who fear the Lord
  • Psalm 145:8-9, 10 and 15:17-18 The Lord is compassionate to all his creatures
  • Psalm 148:1-2, 3-4, 9-10, 11-13a, 13c-14a Let all praise the name of the Lord

Corinthians (13) (abbrev)

Love is patient and kind,
Love is not jealous or boastful; it is not arrogant or rude.
Love does not insist on its own way, it is not irritable or resentful, it does not rejoice in wrong,
But rejoices in right.
Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, and endures all things.
Love never ends.
Faith, hope, love, abide these three, but the greatest of these is love.

Corinthians (13) – the first Letter of Saint Paul to the Corinthians (full version)

Brothers and sisters:
Strive eagerly for the greatest spiritual gifts.
But I shall show you a still more excellent way.
If I speak in human and angelic tongues
but do not have love,
I am a resounding gong or a clashing cymbal.
And if I have the gift of prophecy and comprehend
all mysteries and all knowledge;
if I have all faith so as to move mountains,
but do not have love,
I am nothing.
If I give away everything I own,
and if I hand my body over so that I may boast but do not have love,
I gain nothing.
Love is patient, love is kind.
It is not jealous, is not pompous,
it is not inflated, it is not rude,
it does not seek its own interests,
it is not quick-tempered,
it does not brood over injury,
it does not rejoice over wrongdoing but rejoices with the truth.
It bears all things,
believes all things,
hopes all things,
endures all things.
Love never fails.

Corinthians (13) (abridged)

If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love,
I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal.
If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all
knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains,
but have not love, I am nothing.

If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames,
but have not love, I gain nothing.

Love is patient, love is kind.
It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.
It is not rude, it is not self-seeking,
it is not easily angered,
it keeps no record of wrongs.

Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.
It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, and always perseveres.
Love never fails.

But where there are prophecies, they will cease;
where there are tongues, they will be stilled;
where there is knowledge, it will pass away.

For we know in part and we prophesy in part,
but when perfection comes, the imperfect disappears.

When I was a child, I talked like a child;
I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child.
When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me.
Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror;
then we shall see face to face.
Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.
And now these three remain: faith, hope and love.
But the greatest of these is love.

God Is Love – 1 John 4:7-12

1 John 4:7-12 English Standard Version (ESV)

Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God.
Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love.
In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him.
 In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.
Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.
No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us.

God is love – 1 John 4:7-19

These verses discuss the nature of God’s love and the nature of perfect love.

God’s Love and Ours

Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him.  This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.

This is how we know that we live in him and he in us: He has given us of his Spirit. And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Saviour of the world. If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in them and they in God. And so we know and rely on the love God has for us.

God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them. This is how love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment: In this world we are like Jesus. There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.

We love because he first loved us.

God in the Marriage – Ecclesiastes 4:9-12

Discusses relationships and the strength of them when God is the third addition.

The Value of a Friend

Two are better than one,
Because they have a good reward for their labour.
For if they fall, one will lift up his companion.
But woe to him who is alone when he falls,
For he has no one to help him up.
Again, if two lie down together, they will keep warm;
But how can one be warm alone?
Though one may be overpowered by another, two can withstand him.
And a threefold cord is not quickly broken.

Lord’s Prayer (The Our Father)

Our Father, who 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 them that trespass against us;
And lead us not into temptation,
But deliver us from evil

For yours is the kingdom, the power, and the glory,
For ever and ever.
Amen

Love In Action (Romans 12:9-13)

Romans 12:9-13 New International Version (NIV)

Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good.
Be devoted to one another in love. Honour one another above yourselves
 Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord.
Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer.
Share with the Lord’s people who are in need. Practice hospitality.

New Testament

  1. And over all these put on love, that is, the bond of perfection (Colossians 3:12-17)
  2. A wedding in Cana in Galilee – the water becomes wine (John  2:1-11)
  3. A wise man built his house on rock Matthew 7:21, 24-29
  4. Be of one mind, sympathetic, loving toward one another (1 Peter 3:1-9)
  5. Beloved, let us love one another (1 John  4:7-12)
  6. Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the land Matthew 5:1-12a
  7. Blessed are those who have been called to the wedding feast of the Lamb (Revelation 19:1, 5-9a)
  8. God is love (1 John 4:7-12)
  9. Husbands, love your wives (Ephesians 5:2a, 25-32)
  10. If I do not have love, I gain nothing (Corinthians 12:31-13:8a)
  11. Let marriage be held in honour by all (Hebrews 13:1-4a, 5-6b)
  12. Love in deed and in truth (1 John 3:18-24)
  13. Love one another as I love you (John  15:12-16)
  14. Love is patient; love is kind (1 Corinthians 12:31-13:8a)
  15. Offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God (Romans 12:1-2, 9-18)
  16. One Body and one Spirit (Ephesians 4:1-6)
  17. Remain in my love: (John  15:9-12)
  18. So that they may all be one (John 17:20-26)
  19. The great mystery, but I speak in reference to Christ and the Church (Ephesians 5:2a, 21-33)
  20. The God of peace will be with you (Philippians 4:4-9)
  21. The Lord is near. Do not worry about anything (Philippians 4:4-9)
  22. The marriage of the Lamb has come (Revelation 19:1, 5-9)
  23. The two shall become one flesh (Mark 10:6-9)
  24. Welcome one another as Christ welcomed you (Romans 15:1b-3a, 5-7, 13)
  25. What God has joined together, man must not separate (Matthew 19:3-6)
  26. What will separate us from the love of Christ? (Romans 8:31b-35, 37-39)
  27. You are the salt of the earth, You are the light of the world (Matthew 5:13-16)
  28. You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart. You shall love your neighbour as yourself: (Matthew 22:35-40)
  29. Your body is a temple of the Spirit (Corinthians 6:13c-15a, 17-20)

Old Testament

  1. Allow us to live together to a happy old age. (Tobit 8:4b-8)
  2. Arise, my love  (Song of Songs 2:8-10, 14, 16a; 8:6-7a )
  3. Be fruitful and multiply (Genesis 1:26-28, 31a )
  4. Do not let loyalty and faithfulness forsake you (Proverbs 31:10-13, 19-20, 30-31 )
  5. Grant that we may grow old together (Tobit 8:4b-8 )
  6. Happy is the husband of a good wife (Sirach 26:1-4, 13-16 )
  7. It is not good that Man should be alone (Genesis 2:18-24)
  8. I will make a new covenant (Jeremiah 31:31-32a, 33-34a )
  9. Male and female he created them. (Genesis 1:26-28, 31)
  10. May the Lord of heaven prosper you both (Tobit 7:6-14 )
  11. Stern as death is love. (Song of Songs 2:8-10, 14, 16; 8:6-7)
  12. The marriage of Isaac and Rebekah (Genesis 24:48-51, 58-67 )
  13. The two of them become one body. (Genesis 2:18-24)
  14. The woman who fears the Lord is to be praised. (Proverbs 31:10-13, 19-20, 30-31)

Prayer Of Saint Francis Of Assisi

Lord make me an instrument of Your peace
Where there is hatred, let me sow love,
Where there is injury, pardon
Where there is doubt, faith,
Where there is despair, hope,
Where there is darkness, light,
and where there is sadness, joy.
O Divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled, as to console;
To be understood, as to understand;
To be loved, as to love;
For it is in giving that we receive;
It is in pardoning that we are pardoned;
And it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.

Song of Solomon

2:10-12 -New King James Version (NKJV)

 My beloved spoke, and said to me:
“Rise up, my love, my fair one,
And come away.
For lo, the winter is past,
The rain is over and gone.
The flowers appear on the earth;
The time of singing has come,
And the voice of the turtledove
Is heard in our land.

Song of Songs

8:6-7 New International Version (NIV)

Place me like a seal over your heart,
like a seal on your arm;
for love is as strong as death,
its jealousy unyielding as the grave.
It burns like blazing fire,
like a mighty flame.

Many waters cannot quench love;
rivers cannot sweep it away.
If one were to give
all the wealth of one’s house for love,
it] would be utterly scorned.

Submission to Love – Ephesians 5: 21-33

This passage discusses the role of love and respect in the marital relationship.

Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ.

Wives, submit yourselves to your own husbands as you do to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body, of which he is the Saviour. Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything.

Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her  to make her holy, cleansing[a] her by the washing with water through the word,  and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless.  In this same way, husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself.  After all, no one ever hated their own body, but they feed and care for their body, just as Christ does the church for we are members of his body. “For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.”  This is a profound mystery—but I am talking about Christ and the church.  However, each one of you also must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband.

Thanks to God  – Colossians 3:12-17

Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience.  Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.

Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful.  Let the message of Christ dwell among you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom through psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit, singing to God with gratitude in your hearts.  And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.

Two Are Better Than One (Ecclesiastes 4)

Ecclesiastes 4 – New International Version (NIV)

There was a man all alone;
he had neither son nor brother.
There was no end to his toil,
yet his eyes were not content with his wealth.
“For whom am I toiling,” he asked,
“and why am I depriving myself of enjoyment?”
This too is meaningless—
a miserable business!

Two are better than one,
because they have a good return for their labor:
If either of them falls down,
one can help the other up.
But pity anyone who falls
and has no one to help them up.
Also, if two lie down together, they will keep warm.
But how can one keep warm alone?
Though one may be overpowered,
two can defend themselves.
A cord of three strands is not quickly broken.

SCIENCE FICTION

Life Speaks With A Voice

(an extract from ‘So Long and Thanks For All the Fish’),
by Douglas Adams

There was a sort of gallery structure in the roof space which held a bed and also a bathroom which, Fenchurch explained, you could actually swing a cat in, “But,” she added, “only if it was a reasonably patient cat and didn’t mind a few nasty cracks about the head. So. Here you are.

“Yes.”

They looked at each other for a moment.

The moment became a longer moment, and suddenly it was a very long moment, so long one could hardly tell where all the time was coming from.

For Arthur, who could usually contrive to feel self-conscious if left alone long enough with a Swiss cheese plant, the moment was one of sustained revelation. He felt on the sudden like a cramped and zoo-born animal who wakes one morning to find the door of his cage hanging quietly open and the savanna stretching gray and pink to the distant rising sun, while all around new sounds are waking.

He wondered what the new sounds were as he gazed at her openly wondering face and her eyes that smiled with a shared surprise.

He hadn’t realized that life speaks with a voice to you, a voice that brings you answers to the questions you continually ask of it, had never consciously detected it or recognized its tones until it now said something it had never said to him before, which was,

“Yes.”

SPECIAL INTEREST POEM

A Better Life

by Audrey Heller

The more you think about it
life gets harder everyday.
You strive to do the right thing, but
at times, it can go astray.
It’s hard keeping up, with all the
things you want to do.
Your intentions are on the right
track, but it can run away with
you.
Today we live in a world,  that is materialistic.
Everybody, strives for more.
We’ve forgotten about the important things in life
and we have to remember, the why, the where and the for.
Let’s get back to the reality, of what
life is supposed to be.
Then once again, we can find our way, for a
better life, for you and me!

In Gratitude

Pravin Gupta, © copyright 2017

(NB: the author is pleased to share provided he is acknowledged)

A land – where Mother Nature
Has laid out her heart for you,
And calls you out, to share her wealth,
And harks, to bring the best in you.
Where eyes do smile, and hearts do care,
Where every man is treated fair,
Where people of lands – far and near
Are welcomed, and given a fair share.
Your colour of skin, or your native land,
Or the God – to whom you bow your head,
It matters none, if with love in heart,
With those in need, you share your bread.
And raise your hand – not to smite,
But for someone to help – along the road,
And share the joys of life with all,
So help me ever, in this land O Lord!
With pride and love, in my heart I say,
For this land I share, with all of ya,
To the angels above, I call out loud,
Thank the Lord, for Australia!

Words

There are many reasons their words are wrong
They’re definitely best when spelling and grammar are strong
We’re here to hear, where words were read
Where they’re stated definitely and not defiantly said,

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STAR TREK

I Don’t Think You Can Analyse Love

Words spoken by the character: Neelix, Star Trek Voyager

“Commander, I don’t think you can analyse love. It’s the greatest mystery of all. No one knows why it happens or doesn’t. Love is a chance combination of elements. Any one thing might be enough to keep it from igniting — a mood, a glance, or a remark. And if we could define love, predict it, it would probably lose its power.”

Only One Of Each Of Us.

Words spoken by the character : Dr. Leonard McCoy

In this galaxy there’s a mathematical probability of three million Earth-type planets. And in the universe, three million, million galaxies like this. And in all that, and perhaps more…only one of each of us.

 

SUPPORTING EACH OTHER

A Soulmate Is…

by Richard Bach

A soulmate is someone who has locks that fit our keys, and keys to fit our locks.
When we feel safe enough to open the locks, our truest selves step out and we can be completely and honestly who we are;
we can be loved for who we are and not for who we’re pretending to be.
Each unveils the best part of the other.
No matter what else goes wrong around us, with that one person we’re safe in our own paradise.
Our soulmate is someone who shares our deepest longings, our sense of direction.
When we’re two balloons, and together our direction is up, chances are we’ve found the right person.
Our soulmate is the one who makes life come to life.

Being There

by Robert Edgar Burns

If my shoulder isn’t soft enough,
Let’s place a pillow there.
So I can hold you in my arms,
And gently stroke your hair.

When weak, saddened, or feeling spent,
So much so that you have to vent,
Then bounce off me your every care.
For whatever you need, I will be there.

I have a zillion things to say,
But I’ll shut my mouth and listen today.
You have my attention, I swear it’s true!
That’s one way I show my love for you.

Now in this life that I have lived,
My favourite thing to do,
Is holding, loving, and kissing,
While I’m being there for You!

I Will Always Be There For You

By © Nidhi Kaul,  Published: April 2008

I will always be there for you,
I am your little friend..
I will always be in love with you,
all the way till the end..

I will always care for you,
I will never leave…
you are one person,
I can never deceive

I shall go off to sleep,
much before you think,
Maybe I’m not with you,
The next second you blink

The day, when I’m not with you,
Just close your eyes
and take my name,
I promise you dear.
Your life will be the same.

I will love you more and more,
with each rising day,
I will always be there for you
even if we are far away

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Unity

Unity

Copyright © Jeremy Smith | Year Posted 2017

We stand as one with love and trust for one another
As life goes by
Ups and downs come and go
While the love continues to grow
Our bond will stay strong thru the end and back again
Family ties and blue skies life’s little surprise
Eliminate the fear of compromise
As we stand as one thru the worlds demise
No need to criticize
Leaving out the lies and the goodbyes forever unified

We rise we fall
been thru it all
nothing will break this chain
Give us all you’ve got Taking all the shots
The UNITY will remain

WELCOME TO COUNTRY

Only an Elder from the locality can offer a ‘Welcome to Country’ but others may offer an ‘Acknowledgement of Country‘.

The Elder will have their own words of welcome but these will usually be similar to the ‘Acknowledgement of Country‘

WISDOM

Wisdom

Many people are inspired by the wisdom in the words of others, a teacher named Kjell Granlund, said “My voice is but a whisper among millions, but if it inspires just one other, then my voice is not lost”.Be that voice.
Be that example,

Wisdom cannot be imparted.
Wisdom that a wise one attempts to impart always sounds like foolishness to one who does not seek it …
Whilst knowledge can be communicated, wisdom cannot.

One can find it, live it, can do wonders through it, but one cannot communicate and teach wisdom.

It can however be acquired.
The journey can be quite frustrating.
But persistence and patience are what is needed.

How can I perform to another’s standards without knowing what they are?
How can I exceed expectations when I do not know what they are?
Communication is but one key to this.
Knowledge is another.
But Love is the catalyst.
To love one another, is to love as one,
To listen to your heart and to the heart of the other, so that they beat as one,
Listen for and hear each other’s words,
see each other’s eyes, and in them, each other’s needs
Tend to the heart,
Tend to the soul,
Tend to each other
Always

Know that together you are stronger than you apart,

Know hat you are individuals but that together you are greater.
The wisdom will flow to and through you
As long as you remember,
That you are as one

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OTHER SOURCES & IDEAS

You may also find inspiration at these sites:

  • https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems-and-poets/poems#subjects=38&page=1&occasions=95
  • http://www.poetry-archive.com/b/byron_george_gordon.html
  • BrainyQuote: www.brainyquote.com
  • Favorite Poets and Poems: www.famouspoetsandpoems.com
  • Great-Quotes.com: www.great-quotes.com
  • Linda’s Lyrics, LLC: www.thedashpoem.com
  • PoemHunter.com: www.poemhunter.com
  • Poetry Soup: www.poetrysoup.com
  • The Quotations Page: www.quotationspage.com
  • The Quote Garden: www.quotegarden.com

I continually search books, magasines, podcast and of course online, for articles, poems & readings; for inspiration, motivation and ideas. I also write one or two, now and again.

And will place items & links here when practical, and if Copyright allows.

Copyright exemption exisist for private ceremonies and events but I also subscribe to Copyright membership through Celebancy associations and Copyright bodies.

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This webpage and all of its contents were written for the purposes of copyright,  Created by Lou Szymkow,  for A Life Celebrant–Lou Szymkow, www.alifecelebrant.com.au,
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A celebrant for all special occasions in your journey of life.

Your Life Events: Weddings, Commitments; Naming Ceremonies; Funerals, Memorials & More

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