It turns out, the Internet has a lot to say about marriage proposals. Whether it's "This Is What The Ideal Marriage Proposal Looks Like" or "What Women Really Want From Their Marriage Proposals," guides to popping the question with panache are superabundant. While many of these guides focus on scheming up original proposal scenarios, fewer of them focus on the actual words the proposer uses. And if you're over here reading about Books, odds are those words are pretty important to you and your loved one.
In fact, few words might be as important as those you hear in the proposal. Call me overly symbolic, but I believe a proposal sets an important tone for a couple. Yes, divorce rates are falling (but marriage might not be as popular as it once was), but the language of committing to another person is still paramount. And what better way to be deliberate about your words than by quoting a poem?
So rather than worrying about orchestrating "the best marriage proposal ever," choose your words... and carefully. After all, marriage is built on communication. A nuanced, thoughtful, and romantic poem in your proposal just may be prelude to a blissful happily ever after.
1"Valentine" by Donald Britton
... we had ways of talking
That filled up the evening
Until some things could be said.
2"Marriage of Many Years" by Dana Gioia
Most of what happens happens beyond words.
The lexicon of lip and fingertip
defies translation into common speech.
I recognize the musk of your dark hair.
It always thrills me, though I can't describe it.
3"Close close all night / the lovers keep" by Elizabeth Bishop
Close, close all night
the lovers keep.
They turn together
in their sleep,
Close as two pages
in a book
that read each other
in the dark.
Each knows all
the other knows,
learned by heart
from head to toes.
4"And the Grass Did Grow" by Ralph Angel
The need remains forever:
to have, to get my hands on,
or to be taken, to lose myself,
in a warmer, less urgent caress.
5"An Explanation of Doily" by Gwyneth Lewis
Till stars take over and do the same.
6"Spring" by Sumita Chakraborty
a thousand leagues of blue and I only
am escaped alone to tell thee
only I am escaped to tell thee.
7"Your Feet" by Pablo Neruda
But I love your feet
only because they walked
upon the earth and upon
the wind and upon the waters,
until they found me.
