Foreword<br >l~，cts get asked so often by their friends and relatives to suggest appropriate<br >readings ior marriages that they come to be more aware than most people<br >arc ~4 what a wedding is: a tbast tot the saying ot a magic spell. A spell to<br >call ~lovn t~) earth what we }rove sensed as divine love and to toss earthly<br >h~c like ribbons on the wind--into ctcrnity， and to make that moment，<br >its h()pes ;t m l its bright intentions， hold through all the difficulties ota com-<br >Inon lifE:.<br > This magic is to be Jccomplished in a public ceremony so that the par-<br >a binding: l， some person， take you， some person， for my . . .<br > And poets， with their heads full of oht poems， hearing these words， are<br >likely to hear also in the hack of their minds ，m echo of some of the ohtest<br >tn，lgical la ngtt:tge， the <)h h st scr:q)s of poetry， on earth， when there was not<br >much distinction between poetry and religious utterance， not much dis-<br >traction between a prayer for good crops， [)~r a friendly relation to the soil<br >or the !i，rcst that t;:cds us， and a prayer for a young couple. At the begin<br >ning， tt~c one w~/s probably thought， m the way of all sympathetic magic， to<br >ch pc-nd on the other: w)u prayed |-or the marriage to be blessed as you<br >prayed f{)r the t)cople tt)bc blessed， as you prayed f})r thc sun in its timc and<br >tl~. rain in its time， as you prayed to the spMts of the animals you hunted，<br >:m~l u~ the hmdamcntal magic of the green earth that relle~a， s itself and to<br >the day and the year that renew themselves， and you praycd tor this magic<br >to be in the lovers and it in them. That ohl cry in the earliest (;reek and<br >l.atin pout ry rcmembcrcd this history， and it was also a cry of spontaneous<br >U，v， a call to the least:<br > 0 flvmenaec fJymen<br >() l tFy}lc，，1H~]metlclt:C<br >