Help please - Indian love poem or quote

[Kell]

Can anyone help me find an Indian piece of poetry or a quote on the theme of love and happiness or long marriages, please?

 

Ideally, it would either be a quote, complete with who wrote/said it, or a short poem or stanza of poetry (again, with the author) which I could have written in English AND in Urdu, Hindi or Sanksrit (whichever it was originally written in).

 

It's to form part of a sampler for a 40th wedding anniversary with an Indian theme (the couple spent their early married life there and still go often for holidays). I thought I'd incorporate the Taj Mahal, which was built in memory of a favourite wife and has become a symbol of love...

[BookJumper]

In The Prophet, Kahil Gibran has this to say on marriage - I think it's beautiful :

 

You were born together,

and together you shall be forevermore.

 

You shall be together when the white wings

of death scatter your days.

 

Aye, 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 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.

[Kell]

Ooh, that's lovely, thank you!

[BookJumper]

No problem happy stitching incidentally, the rest of the (small) book is just as lovely, Gibran's got a gift of saying oh so true things with startlingly stunning simplicity so it's a definite recommendable!

[Ruth]

This is the Apache Wedding Prayer, which was read at our wedding by my sister-in-law:

 

Now you will feel no rain,

for each of you will be shelter for the other.

Now you will feel no cold,

for each of you will be warmth to the other.

Now there will be no loneliness,

for each of you will be companion to the other.

Now you are two persons,

but there is only one life before you.

May beauty surround you both in the journey ahead

and through all the years.

May happiness be your companion,

and your days together be good and long upon the earth.

 

Treat yourselves and each other with respect,

and remind yourselves often of what brought you together.

Give the highest priority to the tenderness,

gentleness and kindness that your connection deserves.

When frustration, difficulty and fear

assail your relationship - as they threaten all relationships

at one time or another -

remember to focus on what is right between you,

not only the part which seems wrong.

In this way, you can ride out the storms

when clouds hide the face of the sun in your lives

- remembering that even if you lose sight of it

for a moment, the sun is still there.

And if each of you takes responsibility

for the quality of your life together,

it will be marked by abundance and delight.

Edited May 18, 2010 by BookJumper
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