LOVE POEMS
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 grief's, 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.

Sonnet 18
By William Shakespeare 
Shall I compare thee to a summer's day? 
Thou art more lovely and more temperate... 
When in eternal lines to time thou grow'st 
So long as men can breathe or eyes can see, 
So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.

Sonnet 116
By William Shakespeare
Let me not to the marriage of true minds 
Admit impediments. Love is not love 
Which alters when it alteration finds, 
Or bends with the remover to remove: 
O, no! It is an ever-fix'd mark, 
That looks on tempests and is never shaken; 
It is the star to every wandering bark, 
Whose worth's unknown, although his height be taken. 
Love's not Time's fool, though rosy lips and cheeks 
Within his bending sickle's compass come; 
Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks, 
But bears it out even to the edge of doom. 
If this be error and upon me prov'd, 
I never writ, nor no man ever lov'd.

The Colour of My Love
David Foster and Arthur Janov 
I'll paint a sun to warm your heart
Knowing that we'll never part.
I'll draw the years all passing by
So much to learn, so much to try.

I'll paint my mood in a shadow blue,
Paint my soul to be with you.
I'll sketch your lips in shaded tones,
Draw your mouth to my own.

I'll trace a hand to wipe your tears
And trace a look to calm your fears.
A silhouette of dark and light
To hold each other oh so tight.

I'll paint the stars in the evening sky,
Draw the light into your eyes,
A touch of love, a touch of grace,
To softly fall on your moonlit face.

And with this ring our lives will start,
Let nothing keep our love apart.
I'll take your hand to hold in mine,
And be together through all time.

These I Can Promise
Author Unknown
I cannot promise you a life of sunshine;
I cannot promise riches, wealth, or gold;
I cannot promise you an easy pathway
That leads away from change or growing old.

But I can promise all my heart's devotion;
A smile to chase away your tears of sorrow;
A love that's ever true and ever growing;
A hand to hold in yours through each tomorrow.
Yes, I'll Marry You

 

THANK YOU POEMS
Our Mother
Author Unknown
You are the mother I received
The day I wed your son.
And I just want to thank you, Mum
For all the things you've done.

You've given me a gracious man
With whom I share my life.
You are his loving mother and
I his lucky wife.

You used to pat his little head,
And now I hold his hand.
You raised in love a little boy
And gave to me a man.

May the road rise to meet you.
May the wind always be at your back,
the sun shine warm upon your face...
May God held you in the hallow of His hand.

MARRIAGE AND LOVE POEMS
Blessing for a Marriage
~ James Dillet Freeman ~
May your marriage bring you all the exquisite
excitement 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.

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 which 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.

These I Can Promise
Author Unknown
I cannot promise you a life of sunshine;
I cannot promise riches, wealth, or gold;
I cannot promise you an easy pathway
That leads away from change or growing old.

But I can promise all my heart's devotion;
A smile to chase away your tears of sorrow;
A love that's ever true and ever growing;
A hand to hold in yours through each tomorrow.
Yes, I'll Marry You

This Day I Married My Best Friend
Author Unknown
This day I married my best friend
...the one I laugh with as we share life's wondrous zest,
as we find new enjoyments and experience all that's best.
...the one I live for because the world seems brighter
as our happy times are better and our burdens feel much lighter.
...the one I love with every fiber of my soul.
We used to feel vaguely incomplete, now together we are whole.

 

I Promise
Dorothy R. Colgan
I promise to give you the best of myself
and to ask of you no more than you can give.

I promise to respect you as your own person
and to realize that your interests, desires and needs
are no less important than my own. 

I promise to share with you my time and my attention
and to bring joy, strength and imagination to our relationship.

I promise to keep myself open to you, 
to let you see through the window of my world
into my innermost fears and feelings, secrets and dreams. 

I promise to grow along with you,
to be willing to face changes in order to keep
our relationship alive and exciting.

I promise to love you in good times and bad,
with all I have to give and all I feel inside
in the only way I know how,
completely and forever.

 

Marriage Advice
Jane Wells (1886)
Let your love be stronger than your hate and anger.
Learn the wisdom of compromise,
for it is better to bend a little than to break.
Believe the best rather than the worst.
People have a way of living up or down
to your opinion of them.
Remember that true friendship
is the basis for any lasting relationship.
The person you choose to marry
is deserving of the courtesies
and kindnesses you bestow on your friends.
Please hand this down to your children and
your children's children.

 

ANNIVERSARY POEMS
Thank you for your love throughout the years.
Nicholas Gordon
Thank you for your love throughout the years.
How else could I become what I've become?
All your plans and hopes and even fears
Now come together in what I have done.
Know that I am grateful for your love.
Your hard work is mirrored now in mine.
On you all my accomplishments must shine.
Underneath my pride, your spirits move.

This home that you have built is made of love,
Nicholas Gordon
This home that you have built is made of love,
Hope and happiness, hard grit and tears,
All the strength of will a heart can move,
Now ready to enfold us many years.
Know that we are grateful for the gift
You've given us by working day and night.
Over us though storms and trouble drift,
Under this roof all is good and right.

Fifty years is really not enough
Nicholas Gordon
Fifty years is really not enough In which to plumb the depths of someone's soul.
Fifty more years, then, should be the goal:
To know the beauty of another's love,
Yearnings shape, and life-long shadows buff. 

Yet life was never easy in those years.
Everest is sometimes hard to climb.
A will to love has brought you to this time,
Rich in joys that time cannot remove.
So may this day be filled with happy tears!

For some the years turn out to be a blessing:
Nicholas Gordon
For some the years turn out to be a blessing:
In life and love the choices of the heart
Find their way to lushly colored meadows
Touched at night by fantasies of stars.
Yearnings sway like dancers in the wind. 

You have learned the music of caressing,
Each taking passionately the other's part.
All the silent beauty of your shadows
Reappears as song that nothing jars,
Sheer happiness unfolding without end.

Fifty years together is a mountain
Nicholas Gordon
Fifty years together is a mountain In truth not all of us would wish to climb.
For umpteen thousand days . . . but, well, who's countin'?
The two of you have trudged up this incline.
Yet what you see up there must be sublime. 

Your love has shaped your lives much as the weather erodes the Earth into majestic forms.
A half a century of life together reveals the rock beneath the mountain heather,
Splendidly unmoved by passing storms.

MARRIAGE PRAYERS
Blessing For A Marriage
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 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 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 which 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! 

BIRTH & CHRISTENING PRAYERS
The Sacrament of Baptism
O God, our heavenly Father, grant that this child,
as he/she grows in years, may also
grow in grace and in the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ,
and that by the restraining and renewing influence
of the Holy Spirit he/she may ever be a true child of
thine, serving thee faithfully all of his/her days.
So guide and uphold the parents of this child that by
giving care, wise counsel, and holy example, they
may lead him/her into that life of faith whose strength
is righteousness and whose fruit is everlasting joy
and peace, through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen.

God be in my head,
And in my understanding;
God be in my eyes,
And in my speaking;
God be in my heart,
And in my thinking;
God be at my end,
And at my departing.
The Sarum Primer

OTHERS
Marriage Advice
Jane Wells (1886)
Let your love be stronger than your hate and anger.
Learn the wisdom of compromise, for it is better to bend a little than to break. Believe
the best rather than the worst.
People have a way of living up or down to your opinion of them.
Remember that true friendship is the basis for any lasting relationship. The person you
choose to marry is deserving of the courtesies and kindnesses you bestow on your
friends.
Please hand this down to your children and your children's children.

Never Marry But For Love
William Penn (1644-1718)
Never marry but for love; but see that thou lovest what is lovely. He that minds a body and not a soul has not the better part of that relationship, and will consequently lack the noblest comfort of a married life.

Between a man and his wife nothing ought to rule but love. As love ought to bring them together, so it is the best way to keep them well together. A husband and wife that love one another show their children that they should do so too. Others visibly lose their authority in their families by their contempt of one another, and teach their children to be unnatural by their own examples.

Let not enjoyment lessen, but augment, affection; it being the basest of passions to like when we have not, what we slight when we possess. Here it is we ought to search out our pleasure, where the field is large and full of variety, and of an enduring nature; sickness, poverty or disgrace being not able to shake it because it is not under the moving influences of worldly contingencies.

Nothing can be more entire and without reserve; nothing more zealous, affectionate and sincere; nothing more contented than such a couple, nor greater temporal felicity than to be one of them.

The Art Of A Good Marriage
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 at no time taking the other for granted; the
courtship should not end with the honeymoon, it should continue through 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 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 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 old. 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.

Our Mother
Author Unknown
You are the mother I received
The day I wed your son.
And I just want to thank you, Mum
For all the things you've done.

You've given me a gracious man
With whom I share my life.
You are his loving mother and
I his lucky wife.

You used to pat his little head,
And now I hold his hand.
You raised in love a little boy
And gave to me a man.

Apache Blessing
Author Unknown
May the sun bring you new energy by day,
May 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 the days of your life may you walk
Gently through the world and know its beauty.

The holiest of all holidays are those kept by ourselves in silence and apart,
the secret anniversaries of the heart, when the full tide of feeling overflows.
Longfellow