The winter snows are white upon the trail,
There is no warmth in the leaf-covered mold
Beneath the naked trees, I cannot find
A fragrant spray of hill-beloved arbutus
To send you as a token of this day,
And so instead of that pure loveliness—
Whose inarticulate beauty would tell all
My heart’s high wish of happiness for you—
I offer the mute impotence of song.

I sing the hope in the minds of you,
The love in the hot young hearts of you,
The faith in the fair white souls of you,
The promise that buds in the lives of you:
Longing, I sing, and leashed desire,
Awe and reverent ecstasy,
The waiting time and the time fulfilled,
The dream come true and the dream undreamed:
Chill winds beating from lonely places,
Mists of doubt and spring sun’s shining,
Toil and the struggle of living, gain.
Pang, and the loss that germs new treasure.

Man of love and woman of love.
Companioned for the long life-way,
The Unal Three, Its benison
Be on you twain that are made one,
To bless this marriage day
And give you joy.

I sing the plenteous peace of home,
The red hearth and the door wide flung,
Friend-welcome and the smiles you share
At meat when God alone is guest:
Coming of souls and souls’ departing,
Pain and the glory born of its bearing,
Travail and fear, sorrow and tenderness,
Life to the full and all adventure:
Laughter of wee mouths, pattering feet.
Babe at the eager breast, children at play,
Guidings, anxieties, hopes, ambitions,
Dreams fresh-visioned in strong young lives.

Man of love and woman of love.
Vintage of God in ewers of clay,
Now, in Life’s grail-cup, the Divine
Vintner mingles his mystic wine,
Time drink deep of your marriage day
And give you joy.

I sing the mid-life’s mellow haze
And calm content of afternoons,
Young arms wreathing about bent shoulders.
Fruitful toil and world encounter.
Walks in the grey of autumn nights,
Winter fires and reverie,
Joy in new loves and then, perhaps,
The old, loved patter of new wee feet:
These I—who shall not know them—sing.
At length the silver of old age serene,
Two with clasped hands that wait to see the rise
Of evening’s star in the hushed west, a love
Without farewell, and the untroubled dark.

Man of love and woman of love,
Companioned for the long life-way,
The Unal Three, Its benison
Be on you twain that are made one,
To bless this marriage day
And give you joy.

George M. P. Baird
Rune and Rann, 1916