Wedding Reading 'To Love Is Not To Possess'

Time to add to our collection of wedding readings! Don’t worry if you’re searching for the perfect reading for your wedding, our series of readings will help you find the perfect words. Today’s reading is such a wonderful addition to our collection, with a wonderfully modern sentiment.

The poem focuses on the importance of equal loving, of staying true to yourself and loving without dependency.

This poem ‘To Love Is Not To Possess’ by James Kavanaugh, is the prefect answer for the modern couple!

“To love is not to possess,
To own or imprison,
Nor to lose one’s self in another.
Love is to join and separate,
To walk alone and together,
To find a laughing freedom
That lonely isolation does not permit.
It is finally to be able
To be who we really are
No longer clinging in childish dependency
Nor docilely living separate lives in silence,
It is to be perfectly one’s self
And perfectly joined in permanent commitment
To another–and to one’s inner self.
Love only endures when it moves like waves,
Receding and returning gently or passionately,
Or moving lovingly like the tide
In the moon’s own predictable harmony,
Because finally, despite a child’s scars
Or an adult’s deepest wounds,
They are openly free to be
Who they really are–and always secretly were,
In the very core of their being
Where true and lasting love can alone abide.”

V&C x