Today we have a ceremony reading that's passionate, romantic and sincere - Love Sonnet 17 by Pablo Neruda. While it speaks about straight-forward, ordinary love, it's also intense and sentimental, making it a great reading for an elopement, a small wedding, or a vow renewal.

Love Sonnet 17 by Pablo Neruda

I do not love you as if you were salt-rose, or topaz,
or the arrow of the 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 live 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.

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Feature image: Jill Coursen Photography via One Fab Day