Wedding readings for art-lovers and artists

Whether you're an art appreciator or an artist yourself, perhaps these love poems and bits of prose could work well in your wedding ceremony.

Married Love by Guan Daosheng

You and I

Have so much love,

That it

Burns like a fire,

In which we bake a lump of clay

Moulded into a figure of you

And a figure of me.

Then we take both of them,

And break them into pieces,

And mix the pieces with water,

And mould again a figure of you,

And a figure of me.

I am in your clay.

In life we share a single quilt.

In death we will share a single coffin.

The House of Life: 19. Silent Noon By Dante Gabriel Rossetti

Your hands lie open in the long fresh grass,—

The finger-points look through like rosy blooms:

Your eyes smile peace. The pasture gleams and glooms

'Neath billowing skies that scatter and amass.

All round our nest, far as the eye can pass,

Are golden kingcup fields with silver edge

Where the cow-parsley skirts the hawthorn-hedge.

'Tis visible silence, still as the hour-glass.

Deep in the sun-searched growths the dragon-fly

Hangs like a blue thread loosened from the sky:—

So this wing'd hour is dropt to us from above.

Oh! clasp we to our hearts, for deathless dower,

This close-companioned inarticulate hour

When twofold silence was the song of love.

You Deserve a Lover by Frida Kahlo

You deserve a lover who wants you disheveled, with everything and all the reasons that wake you up in a haste and the demons that won’t let you sleep.

You deserve a lover who makes you feel safe, who can consume this world whole if he walks hand in hand with you; someone who believes that his embraces are a perfect match with your skin.

You deserve a lover who wants to dance with you, who goes to paradise every time he looks into your eyes and never gets tired of studying your expressions.

You deserve a lover who listens when you sing, who supports you when you feel shame and respects your freedom; who flies with you and isn’t afraid to fall.

You deserve a lover who takes away the lies and brings you hope, coffee, and poetry.”

From Kintsugi by Marie Kondo

Kintsugi — which means “join with gold” — is the Japanese art of repairing broken objects, often ceramic pottery or glass. Traditionally, gold lacquer is used to piece shards together again, creating a more beautiful object through the acts of breaking and repair. Kintsugi encourages us to fix rather than discard, thus placing a higher value on the objects we bring into our lives…

Japanese craftspeople have engaged in this technique for centuries, but anyone can take part in this restorative process of rebuilding a beloved object with newfound elegance.

Kintsugi is aligned with several well-known Japanese beliefs and philosophies. The first is “wabi-sabi” — the acceptance of impermanence and imperfection, an inevitable part of our world. Wabi-sabi encourages the delight in irregularities and inconsistencies of the human hand, rather than striving for perfection.

The Japanese philosophy of “mottainai” regrets squandering and advocates for minimizing waste. The longer the life of our objects, the fewer objects we have to buy that use up precious resources. Kintsugi can make this relationship with breakage one of joy and learning instead of regret and loss.

The final concept is “mushin,” a mental flow that frees you from the angst of change and allows you to easily accept fate. Practicing mushin guides us towards a reaction of mildness and quiet acceptance. The power to repair favorite objects with kintsugi helps this mental fortitude, making new life possible.