Wedding reading
Sonnet XVII — "I do not love you as if you were salt-rose"
Pablo Neruda
“Sonnet XVII — "I do not love you as if you were salt-rose"” by Pablo Neruda is a poem read at a wedding ceremony. It takes about 50 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 English is a translator’s work in its own right. Choose the translation the couple prefer and print that one — they differ more than people expect.
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
Ask which translation. They are not interchangeable.
Read at a wedding ceremony. Themes: secret love · so close that your hand is mine · Spanish · a bilingual ceremony.
Questions about reading it aloud
How long does “Sonnet XVII — "I do not love you as if you were salt-rose"” take to read aloud?
“Sonnet XVII — "I do not love you as if you were salt-rose"” takes about 50 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 “Sonnet XVII — "I do not love you as if you were salt-rose"”?
Usually a guest reader rather than the officiant. “Sonnet XVII — "I do not love you as if you were salt-rose"” runs about 50 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 “Sonnet XVII — "I do not love you as if you were salt-rose"” 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 English is a translator’s work in its own right. Choose the translation the couple prefer and print that one — they differ more than people expect.
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.