Twenty Poems to Bless Your Marriage
And One to Save It
A modern-day pilgrim, Roger Housden leads occasional contemplative journeys to beautiful sites around the world. He is also the author of more than twenty books on poetry, art, and travel. Twenty Poems to Bless Your Marriage: And One to Save It brings the power of poetry to the lifelong journey of love and marriage, celebrating the peaks and valleys that all lovers traverse.
This small volume comes in six sections, each beginning with a sensitive and insightful essay corresponding to the way love grows and matures through the stages of life. “The Joy” celebrates the first awakening of love and commitment; “The Journey” brings laughter and grace to the complex paradox of two becoming one; “The Work” speaks of lovers’ conscious commitment to use even challenges and suffering to further their growth and deepen their union; “The Love” sees early passion matured and enriched with kindness, compassion, and the desire to work for each other’s good—it’s the Greek concept of Agape, still warmed by the subtle fire of Eros. “The Union” brings it all together, burnished and glowing, and an additional section, “The Saving Grace,” gently reminds of the need to accept imperfection in oneself and in the beloved.
Housden’s selection of accessible, intensely moving poems by Rumi, Hafiz, Shakespeare, D. H. Lawrence, David Whyte, Denise Levertov, Kahlil Gibran, Jane Hirshfield, Wendell Berry, Robert Bly, and others will kindle and nourish the flame of love, no matter your time of life.
Reviewed by
Kristine Morris
Disclosure: This article is not an endorsement, but a review. The publisher of this book provided free copies of the book to have their book reviewed by a professional reviewer. No fee was paid by the publisher for this review. Foreword Reviews only recommends books that we love. Foreword Magazine, Inc. is disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255.
