Readings: Prose
Many ceremonies can have prose readings. The following list offers many prose selections
you may want to incorporate into your ceremony, or include on your ceremony
program. For additional prose
readings, visit Mary Jane N. Shroyer's Prose
Readings Page or the
Blessings and Prayers Page compiled by Mary Jane N. Shroyer.
Bless our marriage, oh God, as we begin our journey down the road
of life together. We don't know what lies ahead for the road turns and
bends. But help us to make the best of whatever comes our way.
Help us to hug each other often...laugh a lot, talk more, and argue less.
Help us to continue to enjoy each other as we did when we first met.
Help us to realize that nothing nor no one is perfect and to look
for the good in all things and all people including ourselves.
Help us to respect each other's likes and dislikes, opinions and
believes, hopes and dreams and fears even though we may not always understand them.
Help us to learn from each other and to help each other to grow
mentally, emotionally, and spiritually.
Help us to realize that there is design and purpose in our lives
as in the world and no matter what happens to us we will hold on to each
other and know that things have a way of working out for the good.
Help us to create for our chidren a peaceful, stable home of love
as a foundation on which they can build their lives.
But most of all, dear God, help us to keep lit the torch of love
that we now share in our hearts so that by our loving example we may pass
on the light of love to our children and to their children and to their
children's children forever. Amen.
by Conrad Aiken
Music I heard with you was more than music, and bread I broke with you was more than bread.
"Because" by Steven Reiser
Because we have things in common
We have the joy of sharing them
Because we are so different
There is so much we can learn from each other
Because we love each other
We look for the good in the other
Because we are forgiving
We overlook the faults in each other
Because we are patient
We give each other time to understand
Because we are filled with kindness
We compliment the things we do for each other
Because we can empathize
We know what it's like to stand in each other's shoes
Because we have character
We enjoy each other's uniqueness
Because we have faith
We believe in the best for the future
Because we are honest
We are comfortable to trust each other
Because we are filled with loyalty
We always know the other will be there
by Ralph Conner
Love, you know, seeks to make happy rather than to be happy.
"The Fate of the Earth" by Johnathon Schnell
Marriage lends permanence and a public shape to Love. Marriage vows are made by a man and woman to one another, but they are also made before the world, which is formally present at the ceremony in the role of witness. Marriage _solemnizes_ love, giving this most inward of feelings an outward form...
"Friendship" by Kahil Gibran, from The Prophet
And a youth said, Speak to us of Friendship. And he answered, saying:
Your friend is your needs answered. He is your field which you sow with love and reap with thanksgiving.
And he is your board and your fireside.
For you come to him with your hunger, and you seek him for peace.
When your friend speaks his mind you fear not the ÎnayÌ in your own mind, nor do you withhold the Îay.Ì
And when he is silent your heart ceases not to listen to his heart;
For without words, in friendship, all thoughts, all desires, all expectations are born and shared, with joy that is unacclaimed.
When you part from your friend, you grieve not;
For that which you love most in him may be clearer in his absences, as the mountain to the climber is clearer from the plain.
And let there be no purpose in friendship save the deepening of the spirit.
For love that seeks aught but the disclosure of its own mystery is not love but a net cast forth: and only the unprofitable is caught.
And let your best be for your friend.
If he must know the ebb of your tide, let him know its flood also.
For what is your friend that you should seek him with hours to kill? Seek him always with hours to live.
For it is his to fill your need, but not your emptiness.
And in the sweetness of friendship let there be laughter, and sharing of pleasures.
For in the dew of little things, the heart finds its morning and is refreshed.
Hand of the Bride and Groom Poem/Prayer
[said by the Maid of Honor]:
(bride's name), please face (groom's name), and hold his hands, palms up, so you may see the gift that they are to you. These are the hands that will passionately love you and cherish you through the years, for a lifetime of happiness. 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 comfort you in illness, and hold you when fear or grief fill you. These are the hands that will give you support and celebrate with you in your accomplishments.
[said by the Best Man]:
(groom's name), please hold (bride's name) hands, palms up, where you may see the gift that they are to you. These are the hands that will hold you tight as you struggle through difficult times. They are the hands that will comfort you when you are sick or console you when you are grieving. These are the hands that will passionately love you and cherish you through the years, for a lifetime of happiness. These are the hands that will give you support as she encourages you to fulfill your dreams. Together, as a team, everything you wish for can be realized.
"How to Kiss" from Romantic Love and Personal Beauty by Henry T Finck, 1887
Kissing comes by instinct, and yet, it is an art which few understand properly. A lover should not hold his bride by the ears in kissing her, as appears to have been customary at Scotch weddings of the last century. A more graceful way, and quite as effective in preventing the bride from 'getting away', is to put your right arm around her neck, your fingers under her chin, raise the chin, and then gently, but firmly press your lips on hers. After a few repetitions, she will find out it doesn't hurt and become gentle as a lamb.
An Indian Blessing
Great spirit, grant that our hearts may always be young
and that our dreams may last forever
by Helen Keller
The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen, nor touched... but are felt in the heart.
by E. Kennedy
The voyage of commitment is never made alone; we cannot, then, be committed only to ourselves or we will die. We must ask whether we can give ourselves to another, or to others, not knowing the changes that time, bad luck, and sickness may work on them.... You have to give more than this in real love, and be ready to move into darkness, illness, and loss of beauty, if you care at all about someone else. We stand on sacred ground when we stand close enough to another to give ourselves without strings, conditions, or codicils written into our commitments. Are such commitments possible? How can we tell unless we have given ourselves to another, make our heart vulnerable, in order to achieve a sense of life which is deeper than the trembling moment and its dreadful ticking uncertainties. People who work at staying in love---these are the people alive to God's Covenant of help and support.
by Ken Kesey
People think love is an emotion. Love is good sense.
"Marriage" by Kahil Gibran, from The Prophet
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.
"Marriage is a Promise of Love," author unknown
Marriage is a commitment to life...to the best that two people can
find and bring out of each other. It offers opportunities for sharing
and growth no other human relationship can equal, a physical and
emotional joining that 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 others 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 if
fuller, memories are fresher, commitments are stronger, even is felt
more stongly, 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.
Selection from Romantic Love and Personal Beauty by Henry T. Finck, 1887
Kissing comes by instinct, and yet, it is an art which few
understand properly. A lover should not hold his bride by the ears in
kissing her, as appears to have been customary at Scotch weddings of the
last century. A more graceful way, and quite as effective in preventing
the bride from 'getting away', is to put your right arm around her neck,
your fingers under her chin, raise the chin, and then gently, but firmly
press your lips on hers. After a few repetitions, she will find out it
doesn't hurt and become gentle as a lamb.
Selection from Winnie the Pooh by A. A. Milne
"Let's frighten the dragons," I said to Pooh
"That's right," said Pooh to Me.
"I'm not afraid," I said to Pooh,
And I help his paw and I shouted "Shoo!
Silly old dragons!" -- and off they flew.
"I wasn't afraid," said Pooh, said he,
"I'm never afraid with you."
So wherever I am, there's always Pooh,
There's always Pooh and Me.
"What would I do?" I said to Pooh,
"If it wasn't for you," and Pooh said: "True,
It isn't much fun for One, but Two
Can stick together," says Pooh, says he.
"That's how it is," says Pooh."
Selection by Anne Morrow
When you love someone, you do not love them all the time, in
exactly the same way, from moment to moment. It is an impossibility. It
is even a lie to pretend to. And yet this is exactly what most of us
demand. We have so little faith in the ebb and flow of life, of love, of
relationships. We leap at the flow of the tide and resist in terror its
ebb. We are afraid it will never return. We insist on permanency, on
duration, on continuity; when the only continuity possible, in life as in
love, is in growth, in fluidity - in freedom, in the sense that the
dancers are free, barely touching as they pass, but partners in the same
pattern.
The only real security is not in owning or possessing, not in
demanding or expecting, not in hoping, even. Security in a relationship
lies neither in looking back to what was in nostalgia, nor forward to what
it might be in dread or anticipation, but living in the present relation-
ship and accepting it as it is now. Relationships must be like islands,
one must accept them for what they are here and now, within their limits -
islands, surrounded and interrupted by the sea, and continually visited
and abandoned by the tides.
from The Crosswick Diaries by Madeleine L'engle's
If we commit ourselves to one person for life this is not, as many people think, a rejection of freedom; rather, it demands the courage to move into all the risks of freedom, and the risk of love which is permanent; into that love which is not possession but participation.... When love is not possession, but participation, then it is part of that co-creation which is our human calling....If our love for each other really is participatory, then all other human relationships nourish it; it is inclusive, never exclusive.
from The Prophet by Kahil Gibran
Love has no other desire but to fulfill itself.
But if you love and must needs have desires, let these be your desires:
To melt and be like a running brook that sings its melody to the night.
To know the pain of too much tenderness.
To be wounded by your own understanding of love;
And to bleed willingly and joyfully.
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 at eventide with gratitude;
And then to sleep with a prayer for the beloved in your heart and a song of
praise on your lips.
"The Art of Marriage" by Wilferd A. 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 the big things. It is never being too old to hold hands.
It is remembering to say "I love You" at least once each day.
It is never going to sleep angry.
It is at no time taking the other for granted;
the courtship should't 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 and giving. 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 the wings of an angel.
It is not looking for perfection in each other.
It is cultivating flexibility, patience, understanding, and a sense of humor.
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 things of the spirit.
It is a common sense for the good and the beautiful.
It is establishing a relationship in which the independence is equal,
the dependence is mutual, and the obligation is reciprocal.
It is not only marrying the right partner, it is being the right partner.
"The Rhythm of Free Partners" from Anne Morrow Lindbergh's Gift from the Sea
A good relationship has a pattern like a dance and is built on
some of the same rules. The partners do not need to hold on tightly,
because they move confidently in the same pattern, intricate but gay and
swift and free, like a country dance of Mozart's. To touch heavily would
be to arrest the pattern and freeze the movement, to check the endlessly
changing beauty of its unfolding. There is no place here for the
possessive clutch, the clinging arm, the heavy hand; only the barest touch
in passing. Now arm in arm, now face to face, now back to back - it does
not matter which. Because they know they are partners moving to the same
rhythm, creating a pattern together, and being invisibly nourished by it.
When the partners each love so completely that they have forgotten
to ask themselves whether or not they are loved in return; when they each
only know that they love and are moving to its music - then, and then
only, are two people able to dance perfectly in tune to the same rhythm.
by George Sand
There is only one happiness in life; to love and be loved.
Karen Sunde
To love is to receive a glimpse of heaven.
by Baal Shem Tov
From every human being there rises a light that reaches straight to heaven. And when two souls are destined for each other and find each other, their streams of light flow together and a single brighter light goes forth from their united being.
by Lisa Ann Trainor (adapted from other prose)
Happiness in marriage is not something that just happens. A good marriage must be created.
In the art of 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 each day.
It is never going to sleep angry.
It is at no time taking the other for granted; the courtship shouldn't 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 the wings of an angel.
It is not looking for perfection in each other. It is cultivating flexibility, patience, understanding and a sense of humor.
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 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, the dependence is mutual and the obligation is reciprocal.
It is not only marrying the right partner, it is being the right partner.
(unknown author)
From this day forward you shall not walk alone. My heart will be your shelter and my arms will be your home.
(unknown author)
A Good Marriage must be created.
In the Art of 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 each day.
It is never going to sleep angry.
It is having a mutual sense of values
and common objectives;
It is forming a circle of love
that gathers in the whole family.
It is speaking of appreciation,
and demonstrating gratitude in thought ful ways.
It is having the capacity to forgive and forget.
It is giving each other 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 not only marrying the right partner.
It is being the right partner.
(unknown author)
If I had a flower (rose?) for every time I think of you I could walk forever in my garden.
Other Prose Selections:
- Kahlil Gilbran's part of the selection on Work from The Prophet that starts "And what is it to work with love? It is to weave the cloth with thread drawn from your heart, even as if your beloved were to wear that cloth..."
[HOME] ©1995 - 2002 Leslie P. Fowler