Poems (McDonald)/The Marriage Vow
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For works with similar titles, see The Marriage Vow.
Speak it not lightly—'tis a holy thing,
A bond enduring through long distant years,
When joy o'er thine abode is hovering,
Or when thine eye is wet with bitterest tears,
Recorded by an angel's pen on high,
And must be questioned in Eternity.
THE MARRIAGE VOW.
"For better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish, till death us do part, according to God's holy ordinance; and thereto I plight thee my Troth."
Marriage Service of the Episcopal Church.
Marriage Service of the Episcopal Church.
Speak it not lightly—'tis a holy thing,
A bond enduring through long distant years,
When joy o'er thine abode is hovering,
Or when thine eye is wet with bitterest tears,
Recorded by an angel's pen on high,
And must be questioned in Eternity.
Speak it not lightly—though the young and gay
Are thronging round thee now with tones of mirth,
Let not the holy promise of to-day
Fade like the clouds that with the morn have birth,
But ever bright and sacred may it be,
Stored in the treasure-cell of memory.
Are thronging round thee now with tones of mirth,
Let not the holy promise of to-day
Fade like the clouds that with the morn have birth,
But ever bright and sacred may it be,
Stored in the treasure-cell of memory.
Life may not prove all sunshine—there will come
Dark hours for all: O will ye, when the night
Of sorrow gathers thickly round your home,
Love as ye did, in time when calm and bright
Seemed the sure path ye trod, untouched by care,
And deemed the future, like the present, fair?
Dark hours for all: O will ye, when the night
Of sorrow gathers thickly round your home,
Love as ye did, in time when calm and bright
Seemed the sure path ye trod, untouched by care,
And deemed the future, like the present, fair?
Eyes that now beam with health may yet grow dim,
And cheeks of rose forget their early glow;
Languor and pain assail each active limb,
And lay perchance some worshipped beauty low;
Then will ye gaze upon the altered brow,
And love as fondly, faithfully, as now?
And cheeks of rose forget their early glow;
Languor and pain assail each active limb,
And lay perchance some worshipped beauty low;
Then will ye gaze upon the altered brow,
And love as fondly, faithfully, as now?
Should fortune frown on your defenceless head,
Should storms o'ertake your barque on life's dark sea;
Fierce tempests rend the sail so gayly spread,
When Hope her syren strain sang joyously—
Will ye look up, though clouds your sky o'ercast,
And say, "together we will bide the blast?"
Should storms o'ertake your barque on life's dark sea;
Fierce tempests rend the sail so gayly spread,
When Hope her syren strain sang joyously—
Will ye look up, though clouds your sky o'ercast,
And say, "together we will bide the blast?"
Age with its silvery locks comes stealing on,
And brings the tottering step, the furrowed cheek,
The eye from whence each lustrous gleam hath gone,
And the pale lip, with accents low and weak—
Will ye then think upon your life's gay prime,
And smiling, bid Love triumph over Time?
And brings the tottering step, the furrowed cheek,
The eye from whence each lustrous gleam hath gone,
And the pale lip, with accents low and weak—
Will ye then think upon your life's gay prime,
And smiling, bid Love triumph over Time?
Speak it not lightly—0 beware, beware!
'Tis no vain promise, no unmeaning word—
Lo, men and angels list the faith ye swear,
And by the High and Holy One 'tis heard:
O then kneel humbly at his altar now,
And pray for grace to keep your marriage vow.
'Tis no vain promise, no unmeaning word—
Lo, men and angels list the faith ye swear,
And by the High and Holy One 'tis heard:
O then kneel humbly at his altar now,
And pray for grace to keep your marriage vow.