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Twenty Poems to Bless Your Marriage: And One to Save It - Paperback | Diverse Reads

Twenty Poems to Bless Your Marriage: And One to Save It

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Poems can teach us in ways that surpass other forms of understanding, especially when the subject concerns matters of the heart. When the heart’s whispers are too faint for us to hear in ordinary ways, poetry can speak to us with another kind of eloquence.

From the leap of joy that a couple takes on their wedding day to a fiftieth wedding anniversary that acknowledges the deep connection that a life together can bring, marriage takes us on a journey that passes through seasons and stages, peaks and valleys. This book honors that journey through twenty poems that celebrate and illuminate some of these major stages and provides not only inspiration for the journey but also solace and wisdom. Roger Housden, the author of Ten Poems to Change Your Life, provides essential insights into the poems, creating a collection of reflective prose and poetry that makes this an inspirational guidebook as much as a volume of poetry.

In Twenty Poems to Bless Your Marriage, Roger Housden offers poems and essays that will give voice to your heart, offering up words and wisdom not just for special occasions but to act as friends and guides to refer to throughout the life of a marriage.

ISBN-13: 9781645472377

Media Type: Paperback

Publisher: Shambhala

Publication Date: 06-06-2023

Pages: 112

Product Dimensions: 5.54(w) x 7.51(h) x 0.35(d)

After receiving a BA (Hons) Degree in French and Spanish from Birmingham University in 1967, Roger Housden started his career in London working for Times Newspapers. Within three years he went on to being a freelance feature writer for The Guardian and an interviewer for the BBC. In the 1980s he founded The Open Gate, the first year-round conference and retreat program to bring mainstream figures in psychology, spiritual traditions, and the arts from the United States to the UK. The Open Gate was a seminal influence and inspiration for many of the learning initiatives that have developed since in the UK, including Schumacher College and Schumacher Lecture Series, and Be the Change. In 1998 Housden immigrated to the United States and since then has been a full-time writer for publishers in New York City. He lives in the Bay Area.

Table of Contents

Introduction vii

1 The Joy 1

The Recognition 3

"Looking for Your Face," Rumi 13

"A Blessing for Wedding," Jane Hirshfield 15

"Our Love Is Like Byzantium," Henrik Nordbrandt 16

"The Recognition," Roy Croft 18

2 The Journey 21

Alone Together 23

"On Marriage" Kahlil Gibran 31

"The Quarrel," Conrad Aiken 32

"Tigers," Eliza Griswold 34

"Love Story," Wesley McNair 35

3 The Work 37

Soaked in Honey, Stung and Swollen 39

"Know Deeply, Know Thyself More Deeply," D. H. Lawrence 48

"The Well of Grief," David Whyte 49

"The Ache of Marriage," Denise Levertov 50

"Vow," Clare Shaw 51

4 The Love 55

Wake Up and Love 57

"It Happens All the Time in Heaven," Hafiz 69

"Sonnet 116," William Shakespeare 70

"I Come Home Wanting to Touch Everyone," Stephen Dunn 71

"We Take the New Young Couple Out to Dinner," Carol Tufts 73

5 The Union 75

Not One, Not Two 77

"A Third Body," Robert Bly 82

"Come with Me," Fran Landesman 83

"The Blue Robe," Wendell Berry 84

"Nothing Can Shatter This Love," Hafiz 85

6 The Saving Grace 87

From "Listening to the Köln Concert," Robert Bly 89

Notes 91

About the Poets 93

Permissions 99