The Wedding Poem

Marriage.

My brother was married to the beautiful Emma a few weeks ago. He asked me to pen them a poem for the occassion and read it on the day - a daunting task!

It took me a long time to come up with a suitable idea and even longer still to write the silly thing. But I got there in the end.

I was an absolute plate of jelly on the day, shaking with nerves and feeling very vulnerable. Writing poetry is one thing, reading it at your brother's wedding is another.

Anyway, I thought I'd share what I wrote with you. The only thing to know is that my brother is a science major, and obsessed with wine, especially pinot noir. In fact, he's currently in France on his honeymoon drinking gallons of the stuff.


To Know and Be Known

What does this thing, this eddying,

falling, swaying thing- love - look like?

Have you seen the right ventral

tegmental region of the brain

throwing dopamine around like confetti?

The pre-frontal cortex pulling data

into patterns, building pathways and

monitoring progress towards something

mystical and praiseworthy

until those chemicals shift

like holograms, slowing

to a kind of mercurial calm;

a love that lasts the decades.

Or perhaps it's less like brain science

and more like a climate – yours

that of a pinot grape, demanding

warm days and cool evenings,

chalky clay, and air crisp like freshly

laundered sheets to produce

a limited, but complex palette.

That place where your love began,

that fertile ground where two curling

vines were grafted into a matrix

altogether more robust-

that must've been something to behold.

And only you can tell of the

careful pruning which took place

in quieter moments, leading

to bud bursts, shoots, leaves and

fruit hanging ripe from the vine,

sugar just below the surface

with enough piquancy to satisfy

a thirsty tongue.

What a vintage, this promise - to know and be known.