This post is part 1 of a 2-part series. Read part 1 – Read part 2
Cassie and Joe got married at home. Not at their home, I think it was Cassie’s aunt’s house. A wedding at home feels very different from a wedding elsewhere; many of the guests had spent time in this location before and everyone clearly felt comfortable there. I was reminded of Barbara and Fred, who got married at their church. There too the congregation was one big extended family and the space was utterly familiar and beloved for nearly everyone present, with family photos on the walls showing stories that developed over time. It’s always a privilege to be invited in, to witness and document important events in the lives of people I don’t know, but especially when they happen in places that are meaningful to the participants. This is one of the best parts of being a photographer.
I looked back at Patrick’s Barbara and Fred blog post just now, and realized that it includes a bit of the passage on Love from Kahlil Gibran’s The Prophet. But not the whole thing! This is my opportunity to rectify that situation. There’s no need to look elsewhere for entertainment while these photos are loading- you can just steep yourself in the immortal words below. I realize that as a wedding photographer who has heard and read these words numerous times in the course of a day’s work, I should be hardened to them, impervious to their impact, but that is simply not the case for me. I still get a film of moisture on the corneas when I get to that line about knowing the secrets of your heart.
On Love
When love beckons to you, follow him,
Though his ways are hard and steep.
And when his wings enfold you yield to him,
Though the sword hidden among his pinions may wound you.
And when he speaks to you believe in him,
Though his voice may shatter your dreams
as the north wind lays waste the garden.
For even as love crowns you so shall he crucify you. Even as he is for your growth so is he for your pruning.
Even as he ascends to your height and caresses your tenderest branches that quiver in the sun,
So shall he descend to your roots and shake them in their clinging to the earth.
Like sheaves of corn he gathers you unto himself.
He threshes you to make you naked.
He sifts you to free you from your husks.
He grinds you to whiteness.
He kneads you until you are pliant;
And then he assigns you to his sacred fire, that you may become sacred bread for God’s sacred feast.
All these things shall love do unto you that you may know the secrets of your heart, and in that knowledge become a fragment of Life’s heart.
But if in your fear you would seek only love’s peace and love’s pleasure,
Then it is better for you that you cover your nakedness and pass out of love’s threshing-floor,
Into the seasonless world where you shall laugh, but not all of your laughter, and weep, but not all of your tears.
Love gives naught but itself and takes naught but from itself.
Love possesses not nor would it be possessed;
For love is sufficient unto love.
When you love you should not say, “God is in my heart,” but rather, “I am in the heart of God.”
And think not you can direct the course of love, for love, if it finds you worthy, directs your course.
Love has no other desire but to fulfill itself.
But if you love and must needs have desires, let these be your desires:
To melt and be like a running brook that sings its melody to the night.
To know the pain of too much tenderness.
To be wounded by your own understanding of love;
And to bleed willingly and joyfully.
To wake at dawn with a winged heart and give thanks for another day of loving;
To rest at the noon hour and meditate love’s ecstasy;
To return home at eventide with gratitude;
And then to sleep with a prayer for the beloved in your heart and a song of praise upon your lips.
from Kahlil Gibran’s The Prophet
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