Wedding Reading -
Epithalamium
by
Jennifer
Cram (09/05/2019) |
Categories:
| Wedding Ceremony |
"As Robert Burns demonstrated,
poetry holds up a unique mirror to a nation's
heart, mind and soul. It is the pure language
that tells us who we are."
- Jackie Kay, Scottish Makar 2016-2020
Here is a beautiful example of poetry for a wedding
Epithalamium
by Liz Lochhead, Scottish Makar * 2011-February 2016
This beautiful poem was read by the poet herself at
the wedding
of Joe Schofield and Malx Brown, the first gay
couple to marry in Scotland (30 December, 2014)
For marriage, love and love alone’s the
argument.
Sweet ceremony, then hand in hand we go
Taking to our changed, still dangerous days, our
complement.
We think we know ourselves, but all we know
Is: love surprises us. It’s like when sunlight
flings
A sudden shaft that lights up glamorous the rain
Across a Glasgow street – or when Botanic Spring’s
First crisp, dry breath turns February air
champagne.
Delight’s infectious – your friends
Put on, with glad rag finery today, your joy,
Renew in themselves the right true ends
They won’t let old griefs, old lives, destroy.
When at our lover’s feet our opened selves we’ve
laid
We find ourselves, and all the world, remade.
[Reproduced under licence from the
Copyright Agency, Ltd]
*
A makar is a term from Scottish
literature for a poet or bard, often thought of as a
royal court poet. The
Scottish
Makar is the National Poet for Scotland