--on the occasion of the wedding of Scott Gerber and Danielle LaLone, August 16, 2003
In the shade of two trees by waters that would
Be Babylon, things were meant to be. God meant
Them and they were. And so we choose, which is not
An end but a blessing, a mitzvah and a means unto mystery,
Such as Light before Sound and sound before speech, spring before autumn
As fruit before fall, autumn before spring, river before sea,
Feeling before thought and water before blood and spirit above
Flood and passage and history. We are not born into each
Other�s arms. How we find each other is the difference
Between might and be, the gravity of memory, parity
In faith, and ever mercy after mystery. Of these I
Know not, so let us intend this wreath of hands: by ourselves
We make aught but an ancient story. Together we fathom roots
Through the earth, the sinews of a life yet told, our choices
The bed of a fertile crescent, as we love in eternal season�