the wedding gift

the wedding is over, and by this time the groom and his bride are on their way to Hawaii. but this is beside the point.

the point is i had no idea what i was going to get them until the night before the wedding, when i drove home from the rehearsal dinner, congratulating myself for not repeating the previous night's culinary indiscretion at the bachelor party. the gift went something like:

I.

I drove home last night thinking about
marriage, ceremony, and ritual,
commitment and obligation,
thinking about dharma.

I thought about the moment hidden in the pomp,
the moment obscured by circumstance:

the moment two becomes one.

I thought about impermanence,
how every thing that has a beginning
will surely have an end.

I thought about the real,
the eternal, the unchanging.

I thought about what I have to offer this union.

No one can give you anything
that you do not already have.

Not peace,
nor security,
nor wisdom,
nor wealth
is lacking.


II.

Then what is the meaning of this marriage?


Is it a dress?

(once worn)

Is it a ring?

(tarnished)

Is it a Saturday evening in May?

(raining)

Is it ‘til death do you part?

(death is not an ending)

My wish for you, S____,
My wish for you, N_____,

is that
on those
worn
tarnished
rainy
days
you

remember

love has no beginning,
love has no end.