Inspired by the natural beauty and unmatched romanticism of the country they love, Ireland has produced some of the most beloved writers of today. From the emotive poems of Seamus Heaney, to the rich imagery created by Patrick Kavanagh, we've compiled a list of our favourite poems by famous Irish writers that would make for memorable, heartfelt wedding ceremony readings. To put your love for each other into words, there's no better place to look for help than this line up of iconic Irish writers. If the excerpts pique your interest, just click the links below to bring you through to the full text and explanation behind it.
Wedding Ceremony Readings by Famous Irish Writers
"Never fear. We may let the scaffolds fall
Confident that we have built our wall."
"I will talk no more of books or the long war
But walk by the dry thorn until I have found
Some beggar sheltering from the wind, and there
Manage the talk until her name come round."
Lines Written for a Thirtieth Wedding Anniversary by Eavan Boland
"Now this is the day to think of it, to wonder:
all those years, all those years together –
the stars in a frozen arc overhead,
the quick noise of a thaw in the air,
the blue stare of the hills – through it all
this constancy: what wears, what endures."
Oh, Call it by Some Better Name by Thomas Moore
"Oh, call it by some better name,
For Friendship sounds too cold,
While Love is now a worldly flame,
Whose shrine must be of gold"
Aedh Wishes for the Cloths of Heaven by W.B. Yeats
"But I, being poor, have only my dreams;
I have spread my dreams under your feet;
Tread softly because you tread on my dreams."
Bluebells for Love by Patrick Kavanagh
"I caught an angel smiling in a chance
Look through the tree-trunks of the plantation
As you and I walked slowly to the station."
"Though we live in a world that dreams of ending
that always seems about to give in
something that will not acknowledge conclusion
insists that we forever begin."
We Are Made One with What We Touch and See by Oscar Wilde
"We shall be notes in that great Symphony
Whose cadence circles through the rhythmic spheres,
And all the live World's throbbing heart shall be
One with our heart, the stealthy creeping years"
Believe Me, If All Those Endearing Young Charms by Thomas Moore
"No, the heart that has truly loved never forgets
But as truly loves on to the close
As the sunflower turns on her god when he sets
The same look which she turned when he rose!"
 Just to Be Beside You is Enough by Gabriel Fitzmaurice
"Just to be beside you is enough,
Just to make your breakfast tea and toast,
To help you with the ware, that kind of stuff"
"So, chary and excited,
As a thrush linked on a hawk,
We thrilled to the March twilight
With nervous childish talk:
Still waters running deep
Along the embankment walk."
Still looking for the perfect wedding ceremony reading? See our Essential List of Ceremony Readings which is broken down into handy categories and these Traditional Irish Wedding Blessings, Toasts, Readings and Vows.
