A Love Poem of Sorts

If you are looking for some type of poem to read at your wedding, print in your program, or say as part of your vows the old standards likely come to mind. But if you are hoping to track down something a little more unique than "love is not love which alters when alteration finds..." here are a few other options to think about:

Scaffolding by Seamus HeaneyMasons, when they start upon a building,
Are careful to test out the scaffolding;
Make sure that planks won’t slip at busy points,
Secure all ladders, tighten bolted joints.
And yet all this comes down when the job’s done
Showing off walls of sure and solid stone.
So if, my dear, there sometimes seem to be
Old bridges breaking between you and me
Never fear. We may let the scaffolds fall
Confident that we have built our wall.

A Marriage by Michael Blumenthal

You are holding up a ceiling with both arms.

It is very heavy, but you must hold it up, or else

it will fall down on you. Your arms are tired, terribly tired

and, as the day goes on, it feels as if either your arms

or the ceiling will soon collapse.

But then, unexpectedly,

something wonderful happens:

Someone, a man or a woman,

walks into the room and holds their arms up

to the ceiling beside you.

So you finally get to take down your arms.

You feel that relief of respite, the blood flowing back

to your fingers and arms.

And when your partner's arms tire,

you hold up your own to relieve him again.

And it can go on like this for many years

without the house falling.