This was my first attempt at a wedding poem for Casey and David. She felt it was a bit too complicated for people to get in one oral reading, which was why I wrote the one that I posted on March 23rd (and read at their wedding.) Sharing the first one just as a point of interest . . .
For Casey and David
In this land of your shared story
You live
like two trees
Your roots have found each other underground
And through their paths of growth
have intertwined
and clasped each other tightly in support
and travel now together, where they find
the sustenance of secret aquifers
The rising surge of life propels you upwards
To stretch your branches splendid in the sun
And there you dance —
The lyrics of your blended song
reflect the ancient rhythms
You each learned when you were seeds
and the shared harmonics
of the present breeze
So will you meet each sun-filled hour
each wind-sent storm, each drenching shower
in graceful strength, in steady power
And grounded there, your souls will soar
as you embrace your precious destiny:
enduring growth in sacred unity.
©Wendy Mulhern
March 17, 2012
Good poem. There is an ancient Greek story about two trees, like lovers, intertwining, and this poem is similar. The roots-underground story suggests sex & early physical aspects of coupling; the secret aquifers suggests something primeval, religious. The branches-in-the-sun and “shared harmonics of the present breeze” are nice images too, although “lyrics” seems somewhat vague. The effect of the more frequent rhyming (hour, shower, power) in the third paragraph suggests a finale, like the extra intense booming at the end of a 4th of July fireworks show. So overall the poem is well structured. It seems well-suited to be a wedding poem; I bet guests at a wedding reception will go “oh”, and women particularly will like it (guys may want a car chase midgrowth with a fruit cart being knocked over). What I find amazing about trees is their ability to extract good stuff out of dirt, soil, minerals, as well as grow tall — almost like building something out of nothing.
Thanks for your comments – interesting!