Wedding reading
On Marriage, from The Prophet
Kahlil Gibran
“On Marriage, from The Prophet” by Kahlil Gibran is a prose reading read at a wedding ceremony. It takes about a minute and a half read aloud, usually by a guest reader. It is in the public domain, so the full text is printed on this page and goes straight into a ceremony script.
The full text
You were born together, and together you shall be forevermore. You shall be together when the white wings of death scatter your days. Ay, you shall be together even in the silent memory of God. But let there be spaces in your togetherness, And let the winds of the heavens dance between you. Love one another, but make not a bond of love: Let it rather be a moving sea between the shores of your souls. Fill each other's cup but drink not from one cup. Give one another of your bread but eat not from the same loaf. Sing and dance together and be joyous, but let each one of you be alone, Even as the strings of a lute are alone though they quiver with the same music. Give your hearts, but not into each other's keeping. For only the hand of Life can contain your hearts. And stand together yet not too near together: For the pillars of the temple stand apart, And the oak tree and the cypress grow not in each other's shadow.
Public domain, so these words can be printed in a ceremony script or an order of service.
Where it comes from
The Prophet was published in September 1923 by Alfred A. Knopf in New York, with twelve illustrations from Gibran’s own drawings.
What it says
The passage begins with the togetherness everyone expects: you were born together and will be together forever, even in death. Then it turns. Let there be spaces in your togetherness. Love each other, but do not make love into a chain; let it be a moving sea between two shores. Fill each other’s cup but do not drink from one cup. Sing and dance together but let each be alone, the way the strings of a lute are separate while playing the same music. Give your hearts, but not into each other’s keeping. Stand together, but not too close, like the pillars of a temple or an oak and a cypress, neither growing in the other’s shade. It is a reading about two whole people choosing to share a life, not two halves merging.
The Prophet entered the public domain, so this one we can print in full. Read at a wedding ceremony. Themes: space in the togetherness · independence · oak and cypress · interfaith · a second marriage.
Who it suits
Interfaith and secular weddings, couples who value independence, and second marriages where both people have built full lives of their own. It suits a couple who will keep separate careers, friends or homes for part of the year. It speaks of God and Life in general terms, so it sits comfortably in a mixed-faith room. Families who expect a reading about becoming one flesh may find its message surprising.
Where it goes in the ceremony
Usually the main reading before the vows, read by a friend or relative. At about a minute and a half it can stand alone, or pair with a short scripture or poem about unity, so that the two readings speak to each other: one about joining, one about space.
Reading it aloud
The text on this page is 178 words. At a ceremony pace of about 130 words a minute, which is slower than conversation, that comes to about a minute and a half of reading.
- The first three lines are about togetherness. Read them warmly, then pause before “But let there be spaces”; that pause is the turn of the whole passage.
- Many lines are built as “do this, but not that”. Give the “but” a slight lift each time so the pattern is clear.
- The final image of the oak and the cypress is the landing. Slow down for it, and let the last line finish before looking up.
Questions about reading it aloud
How long does “On Marriage, from The Prophet” take to read aloud?
“On Marriage, from The Prophet” takes about a minute and a half 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 “On Marriage, from The Prophet”?
Usually a guest reader rather than the officiant. “On Marriage, from The Prophet” runs about a minute and a half, 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 “On Marriage, from The Prophet” be printed in a ceremony script?
Yes. It is in the public domain, so the full text is on this page and can be printed in a script or an order of service.
Where this text was checked
Checked word for word against a full-text edition that is itself the authority — a Project Gutenberg or Wikisource transcription, a publisher’s own edition, or the issuing body’s page.
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.
Other readings that suit the same service
- Ecclesiastes 4:9–1240 secondsScripture on two being better than one, for a contrasting reading
- from the Symposium — the speech of Aristophanestwo minutesThe opposite view: love as the search for one’s other half
- The Metta Sutta — loving-kindness (verses 4–9)a minute and a halfA spiritual reading for an interfaith ceremony with no deity in it
- On Becoming Real, from The Velveteen Rabbit55 secondsMargery Williams
- from Jane Eyre — ten years marrieda minute and a halfCharlotte Brontë
- from Les Misérables — the supreme happiness15 secondsVictor Hugo, tr. Isabel F. Hapgood