Today's potential wedding ceremony reading is actually a poem that is almost 400 years old! At just 18 years old, Anne Bradstreet was one of the original Pilgrims, the first white settlers in North America, and she's regarded as the leading light among early American writers. As an individual she's an inspiration - pioneer, writer, political commentator, devoted mother and along with her husband, resistor of the witch trials and founder of Harvard. Pretty good pedigree there (you know we're a little bit feminist round here) Her poetry is subtle and beautiful. Today we bring you To My Dear and Loving Husband, an ode to the husband she clearly adored. Theirs was a love match and a life-long true partnership, which makes this poem so fantastic as a wedding ceremony reading.

To My Dear and Loving Husband by Anne Bradstreet

If ever two were one, then surely we.
If ever man were loved by wife, then thee.
If ever wife was happy in a man,
Compare with me, ye women, if you can.
I prize thy love more than whole mines of gold,
Or all the riches that the East doth hold.
My love is such that rivers cannot quench,
Nor ought but love from thee give recompense.
Thy love is such I can no way repay;
The heavens reward thee manifold, I pray.
Then while we live, in love let’s so persever,
That when we live no more, we may live ever.

Feature image by Fraser Stewart Photography via One Fab Day

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