Twenty Poems to Bless Your Marriage And One to Save It

This book is a companion in poetry and prose along the journey of love and marriage. It is a song of praise to the love between two people, and to the commitment to that love demonstrated in marriage. As it evolves over time, marriage, like life, passes through seasons and stages, peaks and valleys. The book is organized by these stages of marriage, from the wedding day to the last days. Each section begins with an essay that reflects on the stage, followed by four poems that illuminate the experiences of marriage in ways that we can appreciate and understand, but may find difficult to express. Poems reach us in ways that surpass other forms of expression, especially when the subject concerns matters of the heart. The prose and poetry here provide not only inspiration for the journey, but also support and wisdom. Outline THE JOY: The Joy, by Rumi; The True Love, by David Whyte; Our Love Is Like Byzantium, by Henrik Norbrandt; I Love You Not Only For What You Are, by Henry Croft THE JOURNEY: On Marriage, by Kahlil Gibran; Tigers, by Eliza Griswold; The Quarrel, by Conrad Aiken; Love Story, by Wesley McNair THE WORK: Know Deeply, Know Thyself More Deeply, by D. H. Lawrence; The Well of Grief, by David Whyte; The Ache of Marriage, by Denise Levertov; The Vow, by Clare Shaw THE LOVE: It Happens All the Time in Heaven, by Hafez/Daniel Ladinsky; Sonnet 116, by William Shakespeare; I Come Home Wanting to Touch Everyone, by Philip Dunn; We Take the New Young Couple Out to Dinner, by Carol Tufts THE FLAME: The Third Body, by Robert Bly; Come With Me, by Fran Landesman; The Blue Robe, by Wendell Berry; Nothing Can Shatter This Love, by Hafez/Ladinsky THE SAVING GRACE: Listening to the Koln Concert, by Robert Bly

After receiving a BA (Hons) Degree in French and Spanish from Birmingham University in 1967, Roger Housden started his career in London working for Times Newspapers. Within three years he went on to being a freelance feature writer for The Guardian and an interviewer for the BBC. In the 1980s he founded The Open Gate, the first year-round conference and retreat program to bring mainstream figures in psychology, spiritual traditions, and the arts from the United States to the UK. The Open Gate was a seminal influence and inspiration for many of the learning initiatives that have developed since in the UK, including Schumacher College and Schumacher Lecture Series, and Be the Change. In 1998 Housden immigrated to the United States and since then has been a full-time writer for publishers in New York City. He lives in the Bay Area.