For Will and Laura

It is a great pleasure to have childhood friends
To have shared so many years in places that now seem so small
Friend's homes, old classrooms, even older football pitches
And the paths we walked (or cycled) together that connected them all

If you get to know someone when they are young
It is as if you are witnessing the start of a melody
The opening strings of a crescendo to that will one day come
Lyrics, that now sadly, echo only in memory

But then, you get to be a witness
To their life, their music, and their journey
Until one day the song sounds even more beautiful
As you realise it's turned into a harmony

Will, you were already playing an incredible tune
I felt so lucky to get to listen along
But Laura, you add to him, and he adds to you
And I think everyone here can attest, you both make such a wonderful song

So, I ask you both, do not be silent with your chorus
Be uniquely yourselves when you stand before us
It's time to play your parts together, and play them true
Are you ready? I'll count you in. One, two...

***

(Many thanks to the person who wished to go uncredited for translating this poem into Spanish for some of the Wedding guests, this was really cool to see!)

Es un enorme placer tener amigos de la infancia
Haber compartido años en lugares que ahora parecen tan pequeños
Las casas, las aulas, los campos de fútbol
Y los caminos que caminamos juntos (o en bicicleta) y que los unían a todos 

Si conoces a alguien de joven
Es como si presenciaras el comienzo de una melodía
Las primeras cuerdas de un crescendo que está por llegar.
Letras que ahora sólo resuenan en la memoria.

Más en adelante en la vida, se llega a ser testigo
De lo que sólo puede considerarse un viaje increíble
Hasta que te das cuenta de que la música cantada
Es mucho más hermosa como una armonía

Will, tú ya tocabas una melodía increíble.
Me sentí muy afortunado de poder escucharla.
Pero Laura, tú le añades a él, y él te añade a ti.
Juntos, hacéis una canción maravillosa.

Así que, os lo pido a los dos, no os quedéis callados con vuestro canto.
Sed vosotros mismos cuando estéis ante nosotros.
Haced vuestro papel, y hacedlo de verdad.
¿Están listos? Uno, dos...

how you view the future

the future is a strange place
they do things differently there
do you find it fills you with fear?
it is it too far away for you to care

it can depend on the scale of time
what tasks lay right before you
in general, when I was younger
the future was something to look forward to

but then I met some folk
for whom the future was full of doubt
the present is a tricky place
and they weren't sure they'd make it out

I realised that approaching time
can't just be taken as given
that life will pass you by
if you forget it's somewhere to live in

the future seems more uncertain
and it's getting closer all the time
I'll deal with it the only day I know
... I'll try to capture it in rhyme 

Delete Key

How much do you rely on your delete key
To be able to construct your thoughts completely
Knowing you can go back, change a letter
Rewrite your words so that they seem better

What if, for a while, you took it away?
Went full typewriter for an hour each day?
So you had to commit to every new line
Even if it irked and didn't seem fine

I think you'd go slow,
Take a little more care
Even in your flow,
You'd be a lot more aware
About the value inherent,
Of each word you chose
Of the decisions present,
In forming your prose

Don't let your mistakes fill you with shame
Embrace your successes and failures the same
Life is cleaner, but a little less complete
When we rely too heavily on what we delete

Jesus in Palestine

What if Jesus were born again, but He was born in Palestine?
He was born among the bombs, He was born among the mines?
He was born in the rubble where a hospital used to stand?
What then would become of the second son of Man? 

Would He be baptised in a river filled with lead
Would He grow malnourished until he learned to break the bread
Would He grow up with His parents or have surrogates instead
Would He grow up knowing death until he learned to revive the dead 

And what if He still said:

"What you do to the least of my brother's you also do to Me"
What would He think of how we treat the land that does not stretch to sea
What of all the other babies still born there every year
Who face all these problems and grow up filled with fear

All of this to wonder, in this most pressing time
What would Jesus do if he came again to Palestine