Fast Day 331 October 12 2013 The Father Of The Bride

The Father Of The Bride

The father gave a toast ending with a Shakespeare
quote,  appropriate to this time and to this place
and it moved me greatly how it formed a cincture
binding us, play actors, within this special space;

Proud as Tybalt’s uncle, pater familias,
like the prudent, firm, convivial Capulet;
his world is the cypress and his house the garden
where tender grew the blossom: this sweet Juliet!


---------
notes
my god-daughter was married yesterday.

Fast Day 157 June 5 2010 {Empty Seats at a Reception}

Empty Seats at a Reception

So ill my brother grew,
he could not attend the wedding feast
and so I sent Hakeem to search
the hungry, thirsty, and the poor.

Hakeem, whom I had met
last night, who'd journeyed from afar,
went into the early rain to search
for poverty to feed in Grosse Pointe.

Tradition says we share
the wealth and blessings on us bestowed,
parceling out in our finer detail
the general bulky benefits of grace.

All the prophets as one
in opinion and in holy writ
could not conceive the modern day:
in Grosse Pointe no poor were found!

We gave it to Solanus,
good father to himself hand out
to all the poor in all Detroit;
we all need loaves and fishes.

----
notes
I couldn't get near my computer to post this until now.
The wedding was history relived:  great pageantry and warfare with weapons of silk and lace, with a great number of distinguished generals and their ladies posing for daguerreotypes. Pomegranate grenades lit the night sky.

Fast Day 156 May 28 2010 {A Wedding}

A Wedding

Enter Prince of Denmark with a flourish,
the procession of the splendid bride,
filling the monkish nave of gothic church
with fairest daughters of our countryside.

The groom comes forth fashioned without flaw,
reason and love tempered in him met;
necklace of steel and beads of awe:
he holds the jewels of ivory and jet.

God rejoins what He had put asunder
while Adam slept in sweetly scented spring;
agate rings of bone draw back together,
crimson-jacket birds of Solomon do sing.

Peony eruption ! Oh, those happy leaves !
The Love that giveth best also best Love receives !



-------
notes

Prince of Denmark   - a march
jet     -   a black jewel
peony   -   the theme flower of the wedding

form: shakesperian sonnet ( sort of )

Fast Day 154 May 14 2010: Mothers' Day {Penelope Plane a Wedding}

Penelope Plans A Wedding


She steers the ship within her mind -
its neck taut like a goose flying -
around ev'ry shoal and brake
until it arrives home safely.

Like Penelope, she sits weaving,
planning a wedding in her dreams:
responses come flying back
like the feet of madmen !

Who will sing the honeyed hymn ?
There are countless birds on wing.
Who will lead us in the dance ?
There are flying fish upon the sea.


--------
notes
a bit early, as my daughter's wedding approaches, and I'm trying to get ahead through the second week of June.

The painting portrays a cottage and lilacs, but I think of it as Rose COttage from "The Jewel in the Crown" or "The Raj Quartet".

This is a paean to all mothers who have raised children...

pix:    http://cajeffrey.blogspot.com/2010/05/dundas-cottage-and-lilacs.html

Fast Day 152 April 29 2010 {The Calligraph Invite}

The Story of the Calligraph Invite

Received a response today;
they will attend the wedding,
and the reception,
and the party thereafter.
It says they and their family accept
she said.

Their family?
Who? A son, a daughter?
Immediate or extended family?
he asked.

They shook their heads
and stood looking at the coloured
inks of the calligraph invite;
the envelope ripped open, and it
a sad courier dangling from a hand,
it prayed: O, please do not kill
this poor messenger, O parents good!
Parents of the bride! Maybe God grant
her joyful increase!
Place me with my brothers
and sisters in the place of honor!

Perhaps that is how it's done
in Syria, she said. We shall make do.
But how, he said, but how to afford...
gently she touched his lips with
her finger tip, the key of silence
that locks the door of wrath.
It is all for the best.
We are between the hands of Allah,
who blesses man and woman,
and wants this blessing
to be shared by more.

Syrians, he thought.
No Saudi prince am I.
He paused a while.
But I am mubarak...blessed...
by this event much more than I
can bless...or sate with food and drink.
Let them come! he said,
smiling, and took the calligraph invite
and placed it with RSVPs
next to his wife's computer.