Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, THE GOLDEN WEDDING, by DAVID GRAY (1836-1888)


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

THE GOLDEN WEDDING, by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: O love, whose patient pilgrim feet
Last Line: To-night shall turn to wine.
Subject(s): Anniversaries; Marriage; Weddings; Husbands; Wives


O LOVE, whose patient pilgrim feet
Life's longest path have trod,
Whose ministry hath symbolled sweet
The dearer love of God, --
The sacred myrtle wreathes again
Thine altar, as of old;
And what was green with summer then,
Is mellowed, now, to gold.
Not now, as then, the Future's face
Is flushed with fancy's light;
But Memory, with a milder grace,
Shall rule the feast to-night.
Blest was the sun of joy that shone,
Nor less the blinding shower --
The bud of fifty years agone
Is Love's perfected flower.
O Memory, ope thy mystic door!
O dream of youth, return!
And let the lights tht gleamed of yore
Beside this altar burn!
The past is plain; 't was Love designed
E'en Sorrow's iron chain,
And Mercy's shining thread has twined
With the dark warp of Pain.
So be it still. O thou who hast
That younger bridal blest,
Till the May-morn of love has passed
To evening's golden west,
Come to this later Cana, Lord,
And, at thy touch divine,
The water of that earlier board
To-night shall turn to wine.




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