simple romantic poetry to read aloud

[andave_ya]

I've been asked to read a poem at a reception for a newly married friend of mine. Thing is, the couple isn't overly romantic. And, no one at the reception will be very much into poetry, so I need something that is neither overly soppy nor hopelessly intricate. I'm afraid that'll go over people's heads. I had suggested some things from Yeats, but the person in charge of the reception thinks he's too difficult too. I don't know where else to go - does anyone have some suggestions?
Thanks so much!

[Nick Capozzoli]

But Yvor Winters' The Marriage is worth considering:

Incarnate for our marriage you appeared,
Flesh living in the spirit and endeared
By minor graces and slow sensual change.
Through every nerve we made our spirits range.
We fed our minds on every mortal thing:
The lacy fronds of carrots in the spring,
Their flesh sweet on the tongue, the salty wine
From bitter grapes, which gathered through the vine
The mineral drouth of autumn concentrate,
Wild spring in dream escaping, the debate
Of flesh and spirit on those vernal nights,
Its resolution in naive delights,
The young kids bleating softly in the rain--
All this to pass, not to return again.
And when I found your flesh did not resist,
It was the living spirit that I kissed,
It was the spirit's change in which I lay:
Thus mind in mind we waited for the day.
When flesh shall fall away and falling, stand
Wrinkling with shadow over face and hand,
Still I shall meet you on the verge of dust
And know you as a faithful vestige must.
And, in commemoration of our lust,
May our heirs seal us in a single urn,
A single spirit never to return.

[islandclimber]

read something from Neruda... one of his more simplistic love poems... maybe...

I want you to know
one thing.

You know how this is:
if I look
at the crystal moon, at the red branch
of the slow autumn at my window,
if I touch
near the fire
the impalpable ash
or the wrinkled body of the log,
everything carries me to you,
as if everything that exists,
aromas, light, metals,
were little boats
that sail
toward those isles of yours that wait for me.

Well, now,
if little by little you stop loving me
I shall stop loving you little by little.

If suddenly
you forget me
do not look for me,
for I shall already have forgotten you.

If you think it long and mad,
the wind of banners
that passes through my life,
and you decide
to leave me at the shore
of the heart where I have roots,
remember
that on that day,
at that hour,
I shall lift my arms
and my roots will set off
to seek another land.

But
if each day,
each hour,
you feel that you are destined for me
with implacable sweetness,
if each day a flower
climbs up to your lips to seek me,
ah my love, ah my own,
in me all that fire is repeated,
in me nothing is extinguished or forgotten,
my love feeds on your love, beloved,
and as long as you live it will be in your arms
without leaving mine.

[Lynne50]

Yes, I was going to suggest Neruda too. Here's one I just found the other day.

I do not love you as if you were salt-rose, or topaz,
or the arrow of carnations the fire shoots off.
I love you as certain dark things are to be loved,
in secret, between the shadow and the soul.

I love you as the plant that never blooms
but carries in itself the light of hidden flowers;
thanks to your love a certain solid fragrance,
risen from the earth, lives darkly in my body.

I love you without knowing how, or when, or from where.
I love you straightforwardly, without complexities or pride;
so I love you because I know no other way

than this: where I does not exist, nor you,
so close that your hand on my chest is my hand,
so close that your eyes close as I fall asleep.


I think this is just lovely. Maybe you can just use part of it. I esp. like the stanza that starts... I love you without knowing how...

[islandclimber]

mmmm.. I love Neruda..

[Niamh]

How about Philip Sidney's Poem "My True Love Hath My Heart and I have His"


My True-Love Hath My Heart


My true-love hath my heart, and I have his,
By just exchange one for the other given.
I hold his dear, and mine he cannot miss:
There never was a bargain better driven.
His heart in me keeps me and him in one;
My heart in him his thoughts and senses guides:
He loves my heart, for once it was his own;
I cherish his because in me it bides.
His heart his wound received from my sight;
My heart was wounded with his wounded heart;
For as from me on him his hurt did light,
So still, methought, in me his hurt did smart:
Both equal hurt, in this change sought our bliss,
My true love hath my heart and I have his.


I love this poem, but it might not be what you are looking for... I'll keep looking. I'm a poetry fiend.

[Pecksie]

How about this sonnet by Elizabeth Barrett Browning (written for her husband Robert)?

How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.
I love thee to the depth and breadth and height
My soul can reach, when feeling out of sight
For the ends of Being and ideal Grace.
I love thee to the level of everyday's
Most quiet need, by sun and candle-light.
I love thee freely, as men strive for Right;
I love thee purely, as they turn from Praise.
I love thee with a passion put to use
In my old griefs, and with my childhood's faith.
I love thee with a love I seemed to lose
With my lost saints, --- I love thee with the breath,
Smiles, tears, of all my life! --- and, if God choose,
I shall but love thee better after death.

[Barbarous]

you can't go wrong with some of the Bard's sonnets (18 116, etc), well perhaps you could but the set of poems seem appealing enough in this situation....

[Lynne50]

How about Philip Sidney's Poem "My True Love Hath My Heart and I have His"




I love this poem, but it might not be what you are looking for... I'll keep looking. I'm a poetry fiend.

Niamh,
I sent this beautiful poem to my sister who lost her husband to cancer a year ago today. They were definitely soulmates. And I know her love for him will never die.