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| Penny and Alex married on a sparkling sunny morning at Berry Island Reserve, Wollstonecraft, with closest family members present. You can see the joy in their faces. |
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| Here are the happy couple with Penny's niece and nephew and Alex's great mate, Mylo the dog. | |
Penny's sister read this lovely poem by Ben Okri, about marriage.
Wedding Reading by
Ben Okri
There’s gold in the sky today.
Saturn’s hand is loosened.
And Venus with her rose
And myrtle glows in the horizon.
There’s a special conjunction
In the air. Love has brought two
Rivers into one way, one dream;
Has sown the quilt of harmony.
And scattered some magic
Fragrance upon the sea.
Love inspires many metaphors;
But marriage inspires
A single prayer that encompasses
The future and many undreamt
Generations. It’s not that two
Souls become one. It’s that
Two souls realise a common soul,
A shared goal, mutual journey
Into one another’s hearts.
That’s what I mean. Travel
Into one another, as into
A country you have long admired,
And read many fables about,
And now find yourself
Before its famed rivers,
Its inspiring mountains.
Exchange hearts, and become
A little bit more the other;
Shape together a magic life
Of dreams, of ideals, and wisdom.
In love stories they talk too much
About love, but not enough about wisdom,
Of common-sense like salt
Or dew much loved of alchemists.
Marriage is more than strong passions
Or home of too many emotions.
It is a house of royal reason, good
Sense, kindness and, above all,
Friendship. If for a poet I sound
Prosaic, then you miss my beat.
Be the greatest friend to one another.
Isn’t that what we always dreamt
About as children, and have spent
All our lives seeking, in so many missed
Connections? The ancients say that
We seek our missing soul.
I say we seek our missing destiny
In the loving friend we seek
For all our days. The one
Who never judges us,
But always raises us.
This is what I wish for you two:
That you live the fairy-tale
Which eludes many, made
Of the faithful strings of the violin,
The solid wood of the piano,
And the intelligence that
Turns every night into a song,
Every day into a garden,
Every quarrel into a fine harvest
Of understanding. May
Your journey together be
The adventure that life
Was always meant to be;
May you never lose your
Laughter, your playfulness,
And your music. Be the wise
Children of the earth.
Be fruitful in enchanting deeds
And in futures. Be something
Rare in this misunderstood
Tale of life: may your love
Help you find that hidden
Gold in the unfinished hours,
That your life together, long
In years, rich in stories,
May yield the tranquillity of flowers.
Ben Okri (Wild, 2
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