When it comes to wedding readings, the best ones are always from the heart & express true feelings about love & marriage. The choice of a classic love poem would seem a natural one for a wedding reading. Here are some classic romantic poems for you incorporate into your wedding ceremony.
“She Walks in Beauty” by Lord Byron
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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 & her eyes:
Thus mellow’d to that tender light
Which heaven to gaudy day denies.
One shade the more, one ray the less,
Had half impair’d 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, & 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!
“Roads Go Ever Ever On” By J.R.R Tolkien
Roads go ever ever on,
Over rock & under tree,
By caves where never sun has shone,
By streams that never find the sea;
Over snow by winter sown,
And through the merry flowers of June,
Over grass & over stone,
And under mountains in the moon.
Roads go ever ever on
Under cloud & under star,
Yet feet that wandering have gone
Turn at last to home afar.
Eyes that fire & sword have seen
And horror in the halls of stone
Look at last on meadows green
And trees & hills they long have known.
“To Be One With Each Other” by George Eliot
What greater thing is there for two human souls
than to feel that they are joined together to strengthen
each other in all labor, to minister to each other in all sorrow,
to share with each other in all gladness,
to be one with each other in the
silent unspoken memories?
“A White Rose” by JB O’Reilly
The red rose whispers of passion,
And the white rose breathes of love;
O, the red rose is a falcon,
And the white rose is a dove.
But I send you a cream-white rosebud
With a flush on its petal tips;
For the love that is purest and sweetest
Has a kiss of desire on the lips
“To My Dear and Loving Husband” by Anne Bradstreet
If ever two were one, then surely we.
If ever man were lov’d 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 ought but love from thee give recompense.
Thy love is such I can in no way repay;
The heavens reward thee manifold I pray.
Then while we live, in love lets so persever,
That when we live no more, we may live ever.
“Love Is A Great Thing” by Thomas à Kempis
Love is a great thing, yea, a great & thorough good. By itself it makes that is heavy light; & it bears evenly all that is uneven.
It carries a burden which is no burden; it will not be kept back by anything low & mean; it desires to be free from all wordly affections, & not to be entangled by any outward prosperity, or by any adversity subdued.
Love feels no burden, thinks nothing of trouble, attempts what is above its strength, pleads no excuse of impossibility. It is therefore able to undertake all things, & it completes many things, & warrants them to take effect, where he who does not love would faint & lie down.
Though weary, it is not tired; though pressed it is not straitened; though alarmed, it is not confounded; but as a living flame it forces itself upwards & securely passes through all.
Love is active & sincere, courageous, patient, faithful, prudent & manly.
“Hope is the Thing with Feathers” by Emily Dickenson
Hope is the thing with feathers
That perches in the soul,
And sings the tune without the words,
And never stops at all,
And sweetest in the gale is heard;
And sore must be the storm
That could abash the little bird
That kept so many warm.
I’ve heard it in the chilliest land,
And on the strangest sea;
Yet, never, in extremity
It asked a crumb of me.
