A customer in Mr. Books just asked if I could recommend a passage in a book for a wedding speech. A bit like that passage from Corinthians 13 which I've read once or twice, most recently at my niece's wedding last summer, it must summarise the very nature of this thing we call love. I think that this passage from Captain Corelli's Mandolin takes a bit of beating:
From Captain Corelli's Mandolin by Louis de Bernieres
Love is a temporary madness,
it erupts like volcanoes and then subsides.
And when it subsides you have to make a decision.
You have to work out whether your roots have so entwined together
that it is inconceivable that you should ever part. Because this is what love is.Love is not breathlessness,
it is not excitement,
it is not the promulgation of eternal passion.That is just being "in love" which any fool can do.Love itself is what is left over when being in love has burned away,
and this is both an art and a fortunate accident. Those that truly love, have roots that grow towards each other underground,
and when all the pretty blossom have fallen from their branches,
they find that they are one tree and not two.
4 comments:
I do not love you as if you were salt-rose, or topaz,
or the arrow of carnations the fire shoots off.
I love you as certain dark things are to be loved,
in secret, between the shadow and the soul.
I love you as the plant that never blooms
but carries in itself the light of hidden flowers;
thanks to your love a certain solid fragrance,
risen from the earth, lives darkly in my body.
I love you without knowing how, or when, or from where.
I love you straightforwardly, without complexities or pride;
so I love you because I know no other way
than this: where I does not exist, nor you,
so close that your hand on my chest is my hand,
so close that your eyes close as I fall asleep.
- Pablo Neruda
I'm losing my boy
And I know that I oughta
Be jumping with joy
That I’m gaining a daughter
But...
The hemline's too high above the knee,
She says wearing white is hypocrisy,
There’s no sign of a veil to hide her face,
And she’s gone for fur instead of lace.
She looks bemused when I mention a train;
Says they’ll be heading for Greece on a plane.
No, it certainly wouldn’t be my kind of dress,
But will she make him happy?
Yes.
I'm losing my boy
And I know that I oughta
Be jumping with joy
That I’m gaining a daughter
But...
She says hats you only wear once are a waste,
She has unruly hair and unusual taste.
Shouldn’t we be spending money (and hours)
Selecting the venue and picking the flowers?
But it's Registry Office, a girl as best man,
Pie and chips at the pub, and no seating plan.
Whatever goes on in her head? I can’t guess,
But will she make him happy?
Yes.
I'm losing my boy
And I know that I oughta
Be jumping with joy
That I'm gaining a daughter
But...
She's having cup cakes in place of three tiers,
Champagne is standing aside for cold beers,
And where the diamond should be on her hand
There's a miniscule pearl on a thin pewter band.
I can’t say it’s quite what I would have chosen,
But I bite my tongue. My smile is frozen.
She's not who I'd imagined, I have to confess,
But will she make him happy?
Yes.
By Vivien Hampshire
I'm losing my boy
And I know that I oughta
Be jumping with joy
That I’m gaining a daughter
But...
The hemline's too high above the knee,
She says wearing white is hypocrisy,
There’s no sign of a veil to hide her face,
And she’s gone for fur instead of lace.
She looks bemused when I mention a train;
Says they’ll be heading for Greece on a plane.
No, it certainly wouldn’t be my kind of dress,
But will she make him happy?
Yes.
I'm losing my boy
And I know that I oughta
Be jumping with joy
That I’m gaining a daughter
But...
She says hats you only wear once are a waste,
She has unruly hair and unusual taste.
Shouldn’t we be spending money (and hours)
Selecting the venue and picking the flowers?
But it's Registry Office, a girl as best man,
Pie and chips at the pub, and no seating plan.
Whatever goes on in her head? I can’t guess,
But will she make him happy?
Yes.
I'm losing my boy
And I know that I oughta
Be jumping with joy
That I'm gaining a daughter
But...
She's having cup cakes in place of three tiers,
Champagne is standing aside for cold beers,
And where the diamond should be on her hand
There's a miniscule pearl on a thin pewter band.
I can’t say it’s quite what I would have chosen,
But I bite my tongue. My smile is frozen.
She's not who I'd imagined, I have to confess,
But will she make him happy?
Yes.
By Vivien Hampshire
Well good for her, for rejecting all the commercialisation and rip-offs associated with weddings these days! I'd be very happy for her to marry my boy!
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