During the ceremony Janice read part of a poem I selected in 2007 while Kevin and I were in Florida for Megan and Ed's wedding. We were staying with Kevin's brother Andrew and I was killing some time online when I found the poem. Kevin hadn't actually proposed yet, so I put the poem in my back pocket. The poem turned out to be prophetic. Janice agreed it was almost spooky how the poem fit by the time it was read in 2009, but since then, the poem fits even better. Except this: I went to East Hampton, not Kevin; I have yet to wear sunglasses in Balboa Park; and Kevin has yet to rake leaves in Ithaca. But we'll see what the future brings.
From "When a Woman Loves a Man"
by David Lehman
When she says margarita she means daiquiri.
When she says quixotic she means mercurial.
And when she says, "I'll never speak to you again,"
she means, "Put your arms around me from behind
as I stand disconsolate at the window."
He's supposed to know that.
When a man loves a woman he is in New York and she is in Virginia
or he is in Boston, writing, and she is in New York, reading,
or she is wearing a sweater and sunglasses in Balboa Park and he is raking leaves in Ithaca
or he is driving to East Hampton and she is standing disconsolate
at the window overlooking the bay
where a regatta of many-colored sails is going on
while he is stuck in traffic on the Long Island Expressway.
When a woman loves a man it is one ten in the morning
she is asleep he is watching the ball scores and eating pretzels
drinking lemonade
and two hours later he wakes up and staggers into bed
where she remains asleep and very warm.
My mother read a poem in Spanish, that I loved, but she said sounded a bit "stalkerish" to her. It's romantic! Not stalkerish.
Quiero decirte algo
by Nestor Oscar Morris
Yo creo que lo sabes pero igual te lo digo,
quisiera ser tu sombra, por eso te persigo,
quisiera ser la almohada que acompañe tus sueños,
ser el acto oportuno y apoyar tus empeños.
Quisiera estar contigo cuando mas lo requieras,
cuando te sientas sola, cuando sufras esperas.
Quisiera ser el balsamo que calme tus dolores
y detener tus lagrimas en cada vez que llores.
Yo creo que lo sabes pero igual te lo digo,
te quiero como a nadie y Dios es mi testigo.
Translation:
I think you know, but I'll tell you just the same,
I'd like to be your shadow, that's why I follow you,
I'd like to be the pillow that accompanies your dreams,
be the opportune act and support your desires.
I'd like to be with you when you most need it,
when you feel alone, when you suffer hopes.
I'd like to be the balm that soothes your pain
and stop your tears every time you cry.
I think you know, but I'll tell you just the same,
I love you like no one else and my witness is God.
Finally, Briggs read a poem that Kevin selected. This one turned out to be my favorite.
somewhere i have never traveled, gladly beyond
by e. e. cummings
somewhere i have never traveled, gladly beyond
any experience, your eyes have their silence:
in your most frail gesture are things which enclose me,
or which i cannot touch because they are too near
your slightest look will easily unclose me
though i have closed myself as fingers,
you open always petal by petal myself as Spring opens
(touching skillfully,mysteriously)her first rose
or if your wish be to close me, i and
my life will shut very beautifully, suddenly,
as when the heart of this flower imagines
the snow carefully everywhere descending;
nothing which we are to perceive in this world equals
the power of your intense fragility: whose texture
compels me with the color of its countries,
rendering death and forever with each breathing
(i do not know what it is about you that closes
and opens;only something in me understands
the voice of your eyes is deeper than all roses)
nobody, not even the rain, has such small hands
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