<div dir="ltr">A splendid trajectory of love, permanence and elasticity, Riantee. Thanks for posting this! <div><br></div><div>~ Ed </div></div><br><div class="gmail_quote"><div dir="ltr" class="gmail_attr">On Tue, Mar 7, 2023 at 8:30 PM Riantee Rand via Thespiritexpress <<a href="mailto:thespiritexpress@lists.mcn.org">thespiritexpress@lists.mcn.org</a>> wrote:<br></div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left:1px solid rgb(204,204,204);padding-left:1ex"><div style="overflow-wrap: break-word;">The poem I wrote for Toni and Ron when they were about to get married.<br><div><blockquote type="cite"><br><div><div dir="ltr"><div style="text-align:center;margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-size:10pt;font-family:"Times New Roman""><span style="font-size:12pt">Holy Marriage – </span><span style="font-size:9pt">After
Annie Lclerc<span></span></span></div><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:center;margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-size:10pt;font-family:"Times New Roman"" align="center"><span style="font-size:12pt"><span> </span></span></p><div style="text-align:center;margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-size:10pt;font-family:"Times New Roman""><span style="font-size:12pt">For our most ancient dream to come alive<span></span></span></div><div style="text-align:center;margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-size:10pt;font-family:"Times New Roman""><span style="font-size:12pt">let’s not flee from commitment<span></span></span></div><div style="text-align:center;margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-size:10pt;font-family:"Times New Roman""><span style="font-size:12pt">but have the heart to face it<span></span></span></div><div style="text-align:center;margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-size:10pt;font-family:"Times New Roman""><span style="font-size:12pt">for it is the true quest of life<span></span></span></div><div style="text-align:center;margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-size:10pt;font-family:"Times New Roman""><span style="font-size:12pt">its highest challenge and accomplishment.<span></span></span></div><div style="text-align:center;margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-size:10pt;font-family:"Times New Roman""><span style="font-size:12pt">Refusing to take a vow is not freedom;<span></span></span></div><div style="text-align:center;margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-size:10pt;font-family:"Times New Roman""><span style="font-size:12pt">free are those who having faced the nature of love<span></span></span></div><div style="text-align:center;margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-size:10pt;font-family:"Times New Roman""><span style="font-size:12pt">its chasms, empty passageways,<span></span></span></div><div style="text-align:center;margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-size:10pt;font-family:"Times New Roman""><span style="font-size:12pt">its triumphs and elations without any illusion,<span></span></span></div><div style="text-align:center;margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-size:10pt;font-family:"Times New Roman""><span style="font-size:12pt">embark on the ocean,<span></span></span></div><div style="text-align:center;margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-size:10pt;font-family:"Times New Roman""><span style="font-size:12pt">determined to live the adventure at all cost,<span></span></span></div><div style="text-align:center;margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-size:10pt;font-family:"Times New Roman""><span style="font-size:12pt">refusing neither the victories<span></span></span></div><div style="text-align:center;margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-size:10pt;font-family:"Times New Roman""><span style="font-size:12pt">nor the wreckages,<span></span></span></div><div style="text-align:center;margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-size:10pt;font-family:"Times New Roman""><span style="font-size:12pt">ready to lose everything they own<span></span></span></div><div style="text-align:center;margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-size:10pt;font-family:"Times New Roman""><span style="font-size:12pt">and willing to gain in the end what’s invaluable,<span></span></span></div><div style="text-align:center;margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-size:10pt;font-family:"Times New Roman""><span style="font-size:12pt">the kept promise,<span></span></span></div><div style="text-align:center;margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-size:10pt;font-family:"Times New Roman""><span style="font-size:12pt">the oath honored without deceit<span></span></span></div><div style="text-align:center;margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-size:10pt;font-family:"Times New Roman""><span style="font-size:12pt">in the meeting of two lives.<span></span></span></div><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:center;margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-size:10pt;font-family:"Times New Roman"" align="center"><span style="font-size:12pt"><span> </span></span></p><div style="text-align:center;margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-size:10pt;font-family:"Times New Roman""><span style="font-size:12pt">There is a time for every season.<span></span></span></div><div style="text-align:center;margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-size:10pt;font-family:"Times New Roman""><span style="font-size:12pt">The inebriation of uncommitted ways<span></span></span></div><div style="text-align:center;margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-size:10pt;font-family:"Times New Roman""><span style="font-size:12pt">is fun to experience for a while and it should be,<span></span></span></div><div style="text-align:center;margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-size:10pt;font-family:"Times New Roman""><span style="font-size:12pt">but when the time for it has passed, it become
lifeless.<span></span></span></div><div style="text-align:center;margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-size:10pt;font-family:"Times New Roman""><span style="font-size:12pt">The real tragedy for us would be<span></span></span></div><div style="text-align:center;margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-size:10pt;font-family:"Times New Roman""><span style="font-size:12pt">not to attempt the impossible,<span></span></span></div><div style="text-align:center;margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-size:10pt;font-family:"Times New Roman""><span style="font-size:12pt">to always remain within our own limits.<span></span></span></div><div style="text-align:center;margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-size:10pt;font-family:"Times New Roman""><span style="font-size:12pt">In marriage we constantly show each other those
limits,<span></span></span></div><div style="text-align:center;margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-size:10pt;font-family:"Times New Roman""><span style="font-size:12pt">test them,<span></span></span></div><div style="text-align:center;margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-size:10pt;font-family:"Times New Roman""><span style="font-size:12pt">finding each other in our most hidden places,<span></span></span></div><div style="text-align:center;margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-size:10pt;font-family:"Times New Roman""><span style="font-size:12pt">bringing out the secret and shadowy parts<span></span></span></div><div style="text-align:center;margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-size:10pt;font-family:"Times New Roman""><span style="font-size:12pt">of one another.<span></span></span></div><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:center;margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-size:10pt;font-family:"Times New Roman"" align="center"><span style="font-size:12pt"><span> </span></span></p><div style="text-align:center;margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-size:10pt;font-family:"Times New Roman""><span style="font-size:12pt">In each true meeting something unforeseen is present.<span></span></span></div><div style="text-align:center;margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-size:10pt;font-family:"Times New Roman""><span style="font-size:12pt">Every time we love we recreate completion,<span></span></span></div><div style="text-align:center;margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-size:10pt;font-family:"Times New Roman""><span style="font-size:12pt">and save our world from the absurd.<span></span></span></div><div style="text-align:center;margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-size:10pt;font-family:"Times New Roman""><span style="font-size:12pt">Love will be reborn through you<span></span></span></div><div style="text-align:center;margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-size:10pt;font-family:"Times New Roman""><span style="font-size:12pt">because it has only one goal, itself:<span></span></span></div><div style="text-align:center;margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-size:10pt;font-family:"Times New Roman""><span style="font-size:12pt">once more, through you, it gains existence.<span></span></span></div><div style="text-align:center;margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-size:10pt;font-family:"Times New Roman""><span style="font-size:12pt">You are called to love and to help,<span></span></span></div><div style="text-align:center;margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-size:10pt;font-family:"Times New Roman""><span style="font-size:12pt">so that love and service<span></span></span></div><div style="text-align:center;margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-size:10pt;font-family:"Times New Roman""><span style="font-size:12pt">can be of this world.<span></span></span></div><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:center;margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-size:10pt;font-family:"Times New Roman"" align="center"><span style="font-size:12pt"><span> </span></span></p><div style="text-align:center;margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-size:10pt;font-family:"Times New Roman""><span style="font-size:12pt">What makes marriage so illuminating<span></span></span></div><div style="text-align:center;margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-size:10pt;font-family:"Times New Roman""><span style="font-size:12pt">is that it’s one of the relationships<span></span></span></div><div style="text-align:center;margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-size:10pt;font-family:"Times New Roman""><span style="font-size:12pt">that truly puts us to work.<span></span></span></div><div style="text-align:center;margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-size:10pt;font-family:"Times New Roman""><span style="font-size:12pt">Obstinate, undeterred from its purpose,<span></span></span></div><div style="text-align:center;margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-size:10pt;font-family:"Times New Roman""><span style="font-size:12pt">marriage is the pursuit through others<span></span></span></div><div style="text-align:center;margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-size:10pt;font-family:"Times New Roman""><span style="font-size:12pt">of our own truth,<span></span></span></div><div style="text-align:center;margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-size:10pt;font-family:"Times New Roman""><span style="font-size:12pt">our authentic voice.<span></span></span></div><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:center;margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-size:10pt;font-family:"Times New Roman"" align="center"><span style="font-size:12pt"><span> </span></span></p><div style="text-align:center;margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-size:10pt;font-family:"Times New Roman""><span style="font-size:12pt">In the intimacy of bodies and souls<span></span></span></div><div style="text-align:center;margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-size:10pt;font-family:"Times New Roman""><span style="font-size:12pt">we access the reality of the lover.<span></span></span></div><div style="text-align:center;margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-size:10pt;font-family:"Times New Roman""><span style="font-size:12pt">We mix our breaths, our juices<span></span></span></div><div style="text-align:center;margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-size:10pt;font-family:"Times New Roman""><span style="font-size:12pt">when sharing our days and nights,<span></span></span></div><div style="text-align:center;margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-size:10pt;font-family:"Times New Roman""><span style="font-size:12pt">and in this way are entrusted to each other.<span></span></span></div><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:center;margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-size:10pt;font-family:"Times New Roman"" align="center"><span style="font-size:12pt"><span> </span></span></p><div style="text-align:center;margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-size:10pt;font-family:"Times New Roman""><span style="font-size:12pt">There are such things as laws of being.<span></span></span></div><div style="text-align:center;margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-size:10pt;font-family:"Times New Roman""><span style="font-size:12pt">They decree the planetary course,<span></span></span></div><div style="text-align:center;margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-size:10pt;font-family:"Times New Roman""><span style="font-size:12pt">orchestrate the music of the spheres,<span></span></span></div><div style="text-align:center;margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-size:10pt;font-family:"Times New Roman""><span style="font-size:12pt">they arrange the corolla around the vibrant heart of
the flower,<span></span></span></div><div style="text-align:center;margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-size:10pt;font-family:"Times New Roman""><span style="font-size:12pt">they give a pulse to the sap<span></span></span></div><div style="text-align:center;margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-size:10pt;font-family:"Times New Roman""><span style="font-size:12pt">that rises from the roots into the tree,<span></span></span></div><div style="text-align:center;margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-size:10pt;font-family:"Times New Roman""><span style="font-size:12pt">they create, for the child, a caring environment in
its mother’s womb.<span></span></span></div><div style="text-align:center;margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-size:10pt;font-family:"Times New Roman""><span style="font-size:12pt">These same laws bind the beloved<span></span></span></div><div style="text-align:center;margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-size:10pt;font-family:"Times New Roman""><span style="font-size:12pt">to one another,<span></span></span></div><div style="text-align:center;margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-size:10pt;font-family:"Times New Roman""><span style="font-size:12pt">they breathe within them.<span></span></span></div><div style="text-align:center;margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-size:10pt;font-family:"Times New Roman""><span style="font-size:12pt">Once they have immersed themselves<span></span></span></div><div style="text-align:center;margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-size:10pt;font-family:"Times New Roman""><span style="font-size:12pt">in the glow of sacredness,<span></span></span></div><div style="text-align:center;margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-size:10pt;font-family:"Times New Roman""><span style="font-size:12pt">this in spite of their squabbles, of their severances,<span></span></span></div><div style="text-align:center;margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-size:10pt;font-family:"Times New Roman""><span style="font-size:12pt">of whatever they say, think or do,<span></span></span></div><div style="text-align:center;margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-size:10pt;font-family:"Times New Roman""><span style="font-size:12pt">these laws live within them.<span></span></span></div><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:center;margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-size:10pt;font-family:"Times New Roman"" align="center"><span style="font-size:12pt"><span> </span></span></p><div style="text-align:center;margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-size:10pt;font-family:"Times New Roman""><span style="font-size:12pt">Our most ancient dream comes alive:<span></span></span></div><div style="text-align:center;margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-size:10pt;font-family:"Times New Roman""><span style="font-size:12pt">shared life, share food and drink<span></span></span></div><div style="text-align:center;margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-size:10pt;font-family:"Times New Roman""><span style="font-size:12pt">and which each taste, with each sip,<span></span></span></div><div style="text-align:center;margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-size:10pt;font-family:"Times New Roman""><span style="font-size:12pt">a certainty: I am loved.<span></span></span></div><div style="text-align:center;margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-size:10pt;font-family:"Times New Roman""><span style="font-size:12pt">Let us shout with this oldest of dream,<span></span></span></div><div style="text-align:center;margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-size:10pt;font-family:"Times New Roman""><span style="font-size:12pt">let us weep and laugh with it,<span></span></span></div><div style="text-align:center;margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-size:10pt;font-family:"Times New Roman""><span style="font-size:12pt">tremble with it,<span></span></span></div><div style="text-align:center;margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-size:10pt;font-family:"Times New Roman""><span style="font-size:12pt">let us dance and embrace it<span></span></span></div><div style="text-align:center;margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-size:10pt;font-family:"Times New Roman""><span style="font-size:12pt">this ancient dream:<span></span></span></div><div style="text-align:center;margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-size:10pt;font-family:"Times New Roman""><span style="font-size:12pt">to be loved without any motive.<span></span></span></div><div style="text-align:center;margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-size:10pt;font-family:"Times New Roman""><span style="font-size:12pt">even undeserving,<span></span></span></div><div style="text-align:center;margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-size:10pt;font-family:"Times New Roman""><span style="font-size:12pt">to be loved with no condition, no merit.<span></span></span></div><div style="text-align:center;margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-size:10pt;font-family:"Times New Roman""><span style="font-size:12pt">To be loved,<span></span></span></div><div style="text-align:center;margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-size:10pt;font-family:"Times New Roman""><span style="font-size:12pt">easy as that.<span></span></span></div>
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