books 2010: Into the Garden: A Wedding Anthology, R. Hass & S. Mitchell (eds.)
Full title on the cover: Into the Garden: A Wedding Anthology: Poetry and Prose on Love and Marriage. I really like both Robert Hass and Stephen Mitchell, and I got this on sale for F for Christmas (I think it was). It's an excellent compilation--lots of different kinds of poems. I really enjoyed reading the whole thing.
Here's my particular favorite, which we're using as a reading at the wedding.
Ancient Egyptian Wedding Song
This love is as good
as oil and honey to the throat,
as linen to the body,
as fine garments to the gods,
as incense to worshipers
when they enter in,
as the little seal-ring
to my finger.
It is like a ripe pear
in a man’s hand,
it is like the dates
we mix with wine,
it is like the seeds
the baker adds to bread.
We will be together
even when old age comes.
And the days in between
will be food set before us,
dates and honey, bread and wine.
Here's my particular favorite, which we're using as a reading at the wedding.
Ancient Egyptian Wedding Song
This love is as good
as oil and honey to the throat,
as linen to the body,
as fine garments to the gods,
as incense to worshipers
when they enter in,
as the little seal-ring
to my finger.
It is like a ripe pear
in a man’s hand,
it is like the dates
we mix with wine,
it is like the seeds
the baker adds to bread.
We will be together
even when old age comes.
And the days in between
will be food set before us,
dates and honey, bread and wine.