I don’t do this very often; probably not often enough. This poem is for Kathy. It is our anniversary and, in some ways, we are an unlikely couple. I tell people it is me who has to endure her idiosyncrasies and meandering along life’s path. In truth, she was the perfect soul mate for me with patience galore while she waits for me to grow up.
A couple of weeks ago Renard Moreau Presents presented this wonderful poem and I knew I would use it today. Kahlil Gibran wrote Marriage. It is self-explanatory. There are so many remarkable lines and words that say what I cannot.
Then Almitra spoke again and said, ‘And what of Marriage, master?’
And he answered saying:
You were born together, and together you shall be forevermore.
You shall be together when white wings of death scatter your days.
Aye, you shall be together even in the silent memory of God.
But let there be spaces in your togetherness,
And let the winds of the heavens dance between you.
Love one another but make not a bond of love:
Let it rather be a moving sea between the shores of your souls.
Fill each other’s cup but drink not from one cup.
Give one another of your bread but eat not from the same loaf.
Sing and dance together and be joyous, but let each one of you be alone,
Even as the strings of a lute are alone though they quiver with the same music.
Give your hearts, but not into each other’s keeping.
For only the hand of Life can contain your hearts.
And stand together, yet not too near together:
For the pillars of the temple stand apart,
And the oak tree and the cypress grow not in each other’s shadow.
About ivonprefontaine
In keeping with bell hooks and Noam Chomsky, I consider myself a public and dissident intellectual. Part of my work is to move beyond (transcend) institutional dogmas that bind me to defend freedom, raising my voice to be heard on behalf of those who seek equity and justice in all their forms.
I completed my PhD in Philosophy of Leadership Studies at Gonzaga University, Spokane, WA. My dissertation and research was how teachers experience becoming teachers and their role as leaders.
I focus on leading, communicating, and innovating in organizations. This includes mindfuful servant-leadership, World Cafe events, Appreciative Inquiry, and expressing one's self through creativity. I offer retreats, workshops, and presentations that can be tailored to your organzations specific needs.
I published peer reviewed articles about schools as learning organizations, currere as an ethical pursuit, and hope as an essential element of adult eductaion. I published three poems and am currently preparing my poetry to publish as an anthology of poetry.
I present on mindful leadership, servant leadership, schools as learning organizations, how teachers experience becoming teachers, assessement, and critical thinking. I facilitate mindfulness, hospitality retreats. and World Cafe Events using Appreciative Inquiry.
I am writing and researching about various forms of leadership, how teachers inform and form their identity as a particular teacher, schools as learning organizations, hope, nonviolence and its anticipatory relationship with the future, as essential elements to teaching and learning.
Academic publications can be found at Ivon Gile Prefontaine on ResearchGate
ivonprefontaine
Teacher as Transformer 
Happy Anniversary
Thank you.
Beautiful indeed. A wonderful tribute to your wife. Happy anniversary, Ivon.
Russ
Thank you Russ. She deserves them and I am not always good at remembering.
Much long happiness together.
Thank you Angeline.
My husband Thom and I used that very poem as a part of our wedding vows, and took it to heart, as we celebrated our 30th anniversary last March. Happy anniversary to you and Kathy, and many many more!
Naomi, you are the second person to mention that. We used the Prayer of St. Francis and it hangs on our bedroom wall. Both poems are such powerful reminders of what is important in life. Thank you for your comment.
Happy Anniversary to you and yours my friend. 🙂
Thank you Dom.
Awww…I think the more unlikely the couple, the more wild the success — Happy Anniversary, Dear Teacher! 🙂
You are probably right. Diversity is not an overrated quality in relationships. Thank you.
What a wonderful gift to your wife and to your readers. Thank you for sharing. Happy Anniversary.
Thank you and you are welcome Tammy.
Happy Anniversary and nice selection…
Thank you on both levels.
Happy Anniversary! May love be a moving sea between the shores of your souls and the sky above it sunny and blue most of the time!
Thank you for the beautiful metaphor.
we also used it at our weddings nearly forty years ago !
Best wishes to you both for this anniversary and all the others…
We used the Prayer of St. Francis and have it sitting on our bedroom wall as a reminder of important things in life. This one shares a similar message and I would have loved it on our wedding day. Thank you for the wonderful comment Valerie.
A beautiful description of unity of heart… Happy anniversary, Ivon!
Thank you Melody.
How beautiful and absolutely TRUE!
Thank you. It is a great poem, but all of Gibran’s work is such.
A magnificent guide/poem for marriage..and my heartfelt congratulations on your anniversary. Wishing you and Kathy a glorious day and year ahead.
We are looking forward to it. Thank you Mimi.
Just…….beautiful.
Thank you Vicki.
Happy Anniversary and may all your days together shine bright.
Thank you on both levels.
Happy Anniversary!
Thank you Maryanne.
happy anniversary with wishes for many more
Thank you Paul. We have some longevity in both families so we are looking forward to many more.
Congratulations and the poem is beautiful!
*MY GOD IS AN AWESOME GOD!*
Thank you on both levels Len.
Sweet tribute, Ivon. My husband and i have been together for twenty years. It was my third attempt at marriage, his first. He is twenty years my junior, and so I felt impatient at times, wishing he’d just grow up. What I understand now is that we both needed it in equal measure, just in different ways. I so admire this man whose steadfastness and enduring love has transformed my own life. I have become a far better person for it. Happy Anniversary!
Thank you for the wonderful story. I am glad it has worked out well.
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Thank you. That is a beautiful comment and greatly appreciated.
Happy Anniversary Teacher. Wish you and your wife good happiness, peace, harmony and prosperity. Beautiful lines 🙂
Thank you for the beautiful comment.
HAPPY ANNIVERSARY! MAY GOD CONTINUE TO BLESS YOUR UNION.
BE ENCOURAGED! BE BLESSED!
Thank you Francine for your lovely comment.
How sweet – Happy Anniversary to you both!
Thank you RoSy.