For Jenne and Ginny

My sister asked me to do a reading as part of her wedding ceremony last weekend. I was honored, and I wanted to write something special for Jenne and her beautiful bride, Ginny. Here's what I came up with.

Like water, love is necessary for life

Man and nature may build impediments

Dams, walls and levees, real and imagined

But if the source is strong

There is no keeping love at bay

Eventually, it will find a way through any barrier

Love, like water, can carve swaths through soil and rock

Through limestone, marble and granite

It can turn the most sterile, flat ground into rapids

Into a river that roils and rages

That feeds life, green and lush in the valley

As long as some small source lies perfect and safe

In the mountains above

Staring into the crystal clear pool on a hot day can only satisfy so much

To feel love's power you have to dive in

Even though you may not be sure just how to keep your head above water

It takes experience

It takes accepting the possibility of failure

It takes someone willing to take a risk

Willing to whisper three words in your ear just as you think you may go under

Three words, and suddenly, impossibly, you find you can stand

In the deep end of the pool

Water flows from the ground

It falls from the sky

And when it falls, trying to avoid the drops

Is as futile as trying to deny a love that is pure

No person, no law, no force of nature can long constrain the power of love

How beautiful it is that we come together to celebrate something as basic

Something as perfect

Something as completely necessary for life

As love