The vows you have just taken, pledging love

The vows you have just taken, pledging love,
Mean far more than words can ever mean.
May their gentle spirit in you move.

May your years fulfill the beauty of
The feelings whose expression we've just seen,
The vows you have just taken, pledging love.

And may you always put these vows above
The things that make life smaller and more mean.
May their gentle spirit in you move.

May your children know the power of
These words to shape a world that's sane and clean,
These vows you have just taken, pledging love.

And if some day there is a need to prove
The strength of will that from these words you glean,
May their gentle spirit in you move.

Let no fear or pain your love remove,
Nor shallow, selfish hope your true joy screen.
Let the vows you've taken, pledging love,
In their awesome grace within you move.

---Nicholas Gordon