On the Event of Marriage
	When we gather for a marriage celebration we affirm life
		Life is good!
	When we gather for a marriage celebration
		we are doing a rare thing.
	For we gather only at life's main events,
		its beginnings and its endings,
		and just a few times, the good times in between.
	Now weddings are much more fun than funerals.
		Yet like a funeral, here is an ending,
		marriage is the finish of life as it used to be.
	And weddings are as happy as the days of our borning.
		For they too are the birth of new life,
		the beginning of a new life together.
	In celebrating this marriage we are celebrating life!
	When we gather for a marriage celebration,
		we bring many things with us.
	We bring our memories.
		Memories that make us sad - memories that make us glad.
		Memories are falling gently now - like a soft rain.
	We bring our hope.
		Hope that gives us energy. Hope that gives us direction.
		Hope is here in this place now - like sunshine.
	We bring our support.
		Support is our gift. Support is our purpose.
		Support is arched across this gathering now - like a rainbow.
	For like the sun shines through the rain,
		hope shines through our memories.
	When we gather for a marriage celebration,
		we bring gifts.
	The couple receive gifts.
		Some merely wrapped up in ribbons.
		Others wrapped up in our hearts.
	We together receive gifts.
		Our embracing - our laughter - our tears.
		And new memories to join the old ones.
	And we each alone are gifted.
		Forgetting ourselves for a while.
		Renewed within an assembly of friends.
	So the cycle of life turns - ever old - ever new.
	When we gather for a marriage celebration we affirm life
		Life is good!

	© may 2001 Elias elias1943@shaw.ca Calgary, Canada
	On the marriage of my son. The ever renewing circle of life.