Sunset at Lake Macbride near Solon, Iowa.

Wedding guests mingling near the lake under the moon.

Last Saturday we attended the wedding of a close friend that I used to work with. It was an unseasonably warm day that could not have been more perfect for a wedding. It was good to see some old friends from my days of working at the Co-op.

Ceremonies by the water make me nervous. I am always wary of some ancient guest pulling me aside and telling some war story about dead albatrosses. Thankfully this did not happen. The bride did read a poem that I have always liked by E. E. Cummings. Here it is:

i carry your heart with me (i carry it in
my heart) i am never without it (anywhere
i go you go, my dear; and whatever is done
by only me is your doing, my darling)
i fear
no fate (for you are my fate, my sweet) i want
no world (for beautiful you are my world, my true)
and it's you are whatever a moon has always meant
and whatever a sun will always sing is you

here is the deepest secret nobody knows
(here is the root of the root and the bud of the bud
and the sky of the sky of a tree called life; which grows
higher than soul can hope or mind can hide)
and this is the wonder that's keeping the stars apart

i carry your heart (i carry it in my heart)