Wedding reading
Touched by an Angel
Maya Angelou
“Touched by an Angel” by Maya Angelou is a poem read at a wedding ceremony. It takes about 40 seconds read aloud, usually by a guest reader. It is still in copyright, so the words are not reprinted here — the reader brings a printed copy.
Why the words are not printed here
Still in copyright, and the estate licenses her poems narrowly — the poem sites carrying it do not have permission and their wordings differ. Print it from a bought Angelou collection; Random House’s The Complete Poetry is linked below. Which of her earlier collections it first appeared in is not settled, so buy the collected poems rather than hunting the original.
Pieces still in copyright are listed by title and author only — we name them and tell you where to get them, but we do not reproduce the words. Public-domain text is printed in your script in full.
What it is about
Angelou on love arriving and setting people free. Short, and it fills a room.
Read at a wedding ceremony. Themes: being set free by love · coming out of hiding · courage · a bold reading · a second marriage · short.
Questions about reading it aloud
How long does “Touched by an Angel” take to read aloud?
“Touched by an Angel” takes about 40 seconds read aloud at a ceremony pace, which is slower than conversation — roughly 130 words a minute. That is the figure the run-sheet uses when it works out the timing for the whole service.
Who usually reads “Touched by an Angel”?
Usually a guest reader rather than the officiant. “Touched by an Angel” runs about 40 seconds, which is a manageable amount to hand to a friend or family member. Give them a printed copy of their own, in a size they can read without their glasses, and tell them where to stand and how you will introduce them.
Can “Touched by an Angel” be printed in a ceremony script?
Not by us. It is still in copyright, so we name it and point you at a copy rather than reprinting the words. Still in copyright, and the estate licenses her poems narrowly — the poem sites carrying it do not have permission and their wordings differ. Print it from a bought Angelou collection; Random House’s The Complete Poetry is linked below. Which of her earlier collections it first appeared in is not settled, so buy the collected poems rather than hunting the original.
Where to find it
No text is reproduced here, so there is nothing to verify — bring a copy from a published edition.
Checked
A reading is two minutes of the hour.
The rest is the welcome, the vows, the ring exchange, the pronouncement — and the timing that holds them together. Answer some questions about the couple and get the whole ceremony, written out, with this reading in its place.