Poems or Readings for Ceremony

FH and I are getting married at the RH. We are not religious, although he was raised Catholic and I was raised presbyterian.

Any ideas for readings, poems, or song lyrics we can incorporate in our ceremony? I am open to bible versus....

Why Marriage?
Mari Nichols-Haining
Because to the depths of me, I long to love one person,
With all my heart, my soul, my mind, my body...

Because I need a forever friend to trust with the intimacies of me,
Who won't hold them against me,
Who loves me when I'm unlikable,
Who sees the small child in me, and
Who looks for the divine potential of me...

Because I need to cuddle in the warmth of the night
With someone who thanks God for me,
With someone I feel blessed to hold...

Because marriage means opportunity
To grow in love in friendship...

Because marriage is a discipline
To be added to a list of achievements...

Because marriages do not fail, people fail
When they enter into marriage
Expecting another to make them whole...

Because, knowing this,
I promise myself to take full responsibility
For my spiritual, mental and physical wholeness
I create me, I take half of the responsibility for my marriage
Together we create our marriage...

Because of this understanding
The possibilities are limitless.

We are using the Apache Blessing, but just the first part:

'Now you will feel no rain, for each of you will be shelter for the other. Now you will feel no cold, for each of you will be warmth to the other. Now there will be no loneliness, for each of you will be companion to the other. Now you are two persons, but there is only one life before you. May beauty surround you both in the journey ahead and through all the years. May happiness be your companion and your days together be good and long upon the earth.'

'Treat yourselves and each other with respect, and remind yourselves often of what brought you together. Give the highest priority to the tenderness, gentleness and kindness that your connection deserves. When frustration, difficulties and fear assail your relationship, as they threaten all relationships at one time or another, remember to focus on what is right between you, not only the part which seems wrong. In this way, you can ride out the storms when clouds hide the face of the sun in your lives -- remembering that even if you lose sight of it for a moment, the sun is still there. And if each of you takes responsibility for the quality of your life together, it will be marked by abundance and delight.'

I compiled a huge listing of verses for ceremony consideration. These are two of my favorites. HTH.

Psalm 89:24,28,33-34,37
My faithful love will be with him, and through my name he will be exalted. I will maintain my love to him forever, and my covenant with him will never fail. I will not take my love from him, nor will I ever betray my faithfulness. I will not violate my covenant or alter what my lips have uttered, it will be established forever like the moon, the faithful witness in the sky. Selah

Song of Solomon 4:9-10,15
You have stolen my heart, my sister, my bride; you have stolen my heart with one glance of your eyes, with one jewel of your necklace. How delightful is your love my bride! How much more pleasing is your love than wine, and the fragrance of your perfume than any spice! You are a garden fountain, a well of flowing water streaming down from Lebanon.

We also got married at the RH and used a non-religious reading. It was a poem:

Touched by an Angel
by Maya Angelou

We, unaccustomed to courage
exiles from delight
live coiled in shells of loneliness
until love leaves its high holy temple
and comes into our sight
to liberate us into life.

Love arrives
and in its train come ecstasies
old memories of pleasure
ancient histories of pain.
Yet if we are bold,
love strikes away the chains of fear
from our souls.

We are weaned from our timidity
In the flush of love's light
we dare be brave
And suddenly we see
that love costs all we are
and will ever be.
Yet it is only love
which sets us free.