Will You Marry Me? Poem

Interestingly, one of the main ways people find their way to my blog is by looking for a “Will You Marry Me?” poem on a search engine, usually google. I suppose that is because I have posted a few poems and my blog has as part of its name: will you marry me. I feel bad that these people usually don’t find what they are looking for when they visit here. On the eve of Valentine’s Day, it seems more people than usual are looking for such a poem as they prepare to pop the question. I’ve wanted to provide some sort of engagement poem here for some time, and with tomorrow’s celebration, it seems a good time to compose such a poem; I write it from a man’s point of view.

Keeper of My Heart, Keeper of My Life, Will You Be My...

My heart has found a home in your care
Your gentle and firm hands receive it well
And make it better and more true to tell
You inspire it with your vibrant flair.

With the keeping of my heart I want to say
That I want to be your protector and your sure stay
I want to lay down my life for love of you
Pouring myself out each day as the sun’s radiant hue.

You make my heart sing and give me life
With my heart in your hands, Will you be my wife?
I want to be yours till the day I die
Will you be mine, too, may I be your guy?

I am down on my knees and humbly beseech
That you be the keeper of my life
And my only cherished peach
Will you be mine, will you be my wife?

Let’s journey together on our way home
Let’s make a home together open to God’s gifts
That at the end of our journey we may not roam
But be taken to heaven where there are no rifts.

Will you be my wife and the center of my life
Except for God who is always number one
His name is Jesus, God’s only Son
Together we journey to Him through all life’s strife.


Well, you can’t say I didn’t try. It’s a first draft done in about twenty minutes. Feel free to use it and/or modify it to your needs. It is generic and a bit sappy, I fear. If it is too good, she may think you didn’t write it, right? This is just bad enough for her to think that you wrote it; of course, you wouldn’t want to deceive her, so you would have to modify it to take any credit for it. Or, you could just blame it on me; I mean give me the credit. Happy Valentine’s Day!


For a Bible passage that reflects some of what is in my poem, read this from Proverbs 31:

When one finds a worthy wife,
her value is far beyond pearls.
Her husband, entrusting his heart to her,
has an unfailing prize.
She brings him good, and not evil,
all the days of her life.
She obtains wool and flax
and works with loving hands.
She puts her hands to the distaff,
and her fingers ply the spindle.
She reaches out her hands to the poor,
and extends her arms to the needy.
Charm is deceptive and beauty fleeting;
the woman who fears the LORD is to be praised.
Give her a reward for her labors,
and let her works praise her at the city gates.

Thanks for reading and your prayers.
Copyright 2007.
All rights reserved.

Eucharistic/Marital Poem

I want to share another poem I wrote as an undergraduate in college; this one is one of the poems I published in the Franciscan University of Steubenville’s literary magazine. I gave no title to this poem:

Bonded by Your Flesh and Blood
My sisters and brothers and I gather together
We—the ring around Your finger
The bride of Your bedchamber
Beam with joy
The beating drums
Within the walls of our temples
Within the enclosure of our ribs
Pound out Your praises
Dancing—we twirl together
Together forever
Forever as one
The ring around Your finger
The bride of Your bedchamber
You are our blood
Your blood is light
Lightning is our blood
Twirling we dance around
Adorned we dance for You
We are the bride of Your bedchamber
The Most High God takes delight
Yes! You delight


Thanks for reading and your prayers.
Copyright 2007.
All rights reserved.

My First Poem: Offered Back

(Other poems)

Offered Back

Love began the flame within the fragile cells.
Love, too, completed the Love began, in nourishing womb.
Husband and wife, united, made into the perfect body of one,
An image of the Perfect Triune Body of One
Presented with the new creation--the new born babe.

In this Love, I AM embraces this chalice
Freshly fashioned, radiating being.
The molded golden handle bulb--its heart
Living to be held...by Him.
The reflecting receiving concave belly--its mind, its soul
Living to be filled...with HIm.

Like an eagle fledgling floundering in cliff-hung nest
Pushed out to fly, to live
Tumbling, follows not its guardinas in flight
Looking away, follows the pull
Insatiably darkly driven insensible.

Thirsting chalice, numb, leaves home, prostitutes itself
Corrupt hands unable to hold, to draw near
Dry tasteless drink unable to fill, to satisfy and sustain
Clang! Happening hard upon frozen stone, violated and broken.

Shattering into its world the Shepherd finds this chalice,
Holding it close to the Loving Pierced Heart,
Reality penetrating eyes know its every construction.

Deep, dirty, disjointed dings destroy the dance
Gouges and scrapes scathingly show sustaining
Deathly emptiness, stark cold lonely nakedness
Once poured over, twice poured over, thrice poured over
Washed in pure water, cleansed by the bath.

Grime regrasps its gauche grip, holding to fester
Particles hiding, hibernating in the caves.
Mercy Infinite, Love Exploding, hands of light drudge deep
Polishing till perfection, holy and without blemish.

Rest is given, new wine poured in.
Both united--Him holding its heart with Pierrced Palms
Living within each other--it holding the Bleeding Wine
Chalice breathing Blood, Blood breathing Life.
This lost chalice is now His chalice.

Through Him, With Him, In Him, offered back to I AM.


I began this poem while in pain on my bed as a freshman at the Franciscan University of Steubenville after a serious ankle sprain playing basketball. I worked on it for some time and turned it in for my poetry class. The next year, I took it out again and worked on it some more. I revised it and published it in the university's literary magazine, which, for that year, was entitled "Offered Back" after this poem.

Thanks for reading and your prayers.
Copyright 2007.
All rights reserved.

Eucharistic Poem I Wrote in College

I just found this old poem I started on 8/24/1991 and finished 4/9/1992 during my junior year in college. I had forgotten that I had written this. I wrote a few poems in college, and this may be the last one I've written.

RAYS

Small gestures made
A scattering of words spoken
The roaring waterfall pounds down.
The morsel washed away
Vanished from between fingers.

The Sun rises.

Soaked to the bone
We are given something uncontainable
Contained
All glorious and mighty
Hidden.

The Sun’s rays beam through the water
Colors captivating
The universe is naught
‘tis but a making
And it is everything
He who is, has entered it.

The non-nourishing morsel
Lost
Leaves in its place
The Nourisher.

The Sun rises.
Life is lifted.

Soaked to the bone
Kneeling
Overwhelmed
Drawn forth
We hold onto faith.

We rise
We consume
And are consumed.

One we become.

The Sun Has Risen.

Thanks for reading and your prayers.
Copyright 2007.
All rights reserved.

Saint John of the Cross

Blessed feast of Saint John of the Cross!

The feast is almost over now that I am sitting down late at night to write. One of the few times I have freedom to write is late at night when my family is in bed. I don't know much about Saint John of the Cross, but what I do know I like. He is a Doctor of the Church and is one of the masters of the spiritual life. Here is a passage from The Spiritual Canticle that deals with spiritual realities. He is giving commentary on a poem and explaining what it means; in stanza 14-15 paragraph 28-29 he says:

28. The Supper that Refreshes and Deepens Love
Supper affords lovers refreshment, satisfaction, and love. Since in this gentle communication the Beloved produces these three benefits in the soul, she calls it "the supper that refreshes, and deepens love."

It should be known that in divine Scripture this term "supper" refers to the divine vision [Rv. 3:20-21]. Just as supper comes at the end of a day's work and the beginning of evening rest, this tranquil knowledge causes the soul to experience a certain end of her evils and the possession of good things in which her love of God is deepened more than before. As a result, he is the supper that refreshes by being the end of evils for her, and deepens love by being to her the possession of all goods.

29. Yet for a better understanding of what this supper is to the soul--it is as we said her Beloved-- we should note in this appropriate place what the beloved Bridegroom says in the Apocalypse: I stand at the door and knock; if anyone opens, I shall enter and we shall sup together [Rv. 3:20]. In this text he indicates that he carries his supper with him, and it is nothing but his very own delights and savors that he himself enjoys. In uniting himself with the soul he imparts them, and she likewise enjoys them. For such is the meaning of the words, "we shall sup together." Hence these words declare the effect of the divine union of the soul with God, in which God's very own goods are graciously and bounteously shared in common with his bride, the soul. He himself is for her the supper that refreshes and deepens love, for in being bounteous he refreshes her, and in being gracious he deepens love in her.


I recommend reading more of Saint John of the Cross; this was just one tiny little bit. I need to read more of it, too. He constantly talks about God as the Bridegroom and our souls as the bride; God seeks to give Himself to us as such. He stands at the door and knocks at each of our hearts. Will you let Him in?

Thanks for reading and your prayers.
Copyright 2007.
All rights reserved.

The Bridegroom Has the Bride

Today I want to take a look at the readings of the Mass. I’ll start with the responsorial psalm, Psalm 149, which is the one that was the inspiration for the poem I posted on January 4. The response is, “The Lord takes delight in his people.” God loves His people, and his people sing, praise, rejoice, and dance for Him. The love is mutual and deep. Remember that Eden means delight and often has a spousal connotation. Here, again, God delights in his people and seeks us as His spouse.

The first reading is the conclusion of Saint John’s first letter. A few sentences before the end, he says, “We know that anyone begotten by God does not sin; but the one begotten by God he protects, and the Evil One cannot touch him. We know that we belong to God, and the whole world is under the power of the Evil One” (1 John 5:18-19). The Evil One has power over the entire world and can touch anyone within his power. The children of God are under the authority of God and are not subject to the Evil One. One is either a child of God and belongs to Him or a child of the Devil who belongs to him.

The children of God belong to God and so do not sin (at least not with mortal sin which he just finished explaining). He is not saying that God’s children never commit a mortal sin; the point is that belonging to God and sinning mortally are mutually exclusive. When a child of God sins mortally, he gets himself quickly to confession and makes everything right once again, or else he ceases to be a child of God (at least as long as he stays away from confession).

Once one is made a child of God in baptism, God protects us. He protects our heart so that we can know, love and serve Him, so that we can be faithful and obedient to His will. The woman in the garden was made from the rib, and as such, was made to protect the man’s heart and lead him to heaven. She did the exact opposite and betrayed her love with a kiss in the garden. Then God sent the angel to guard the way to the tree of life. This guarding by the angel is not to keep man from eating the tree of life; the guarding is the giving of our guardian angel who protects our heart, our tree of life, so that it stays faithful and true. His mission is to help us get to heaven, and there is no way there except via a trusting and obedient heart.

To protect us, we also have the New Eve, the Blessed Virgin Mary, who is the New Rib, Our Rib, who only leads us to her Divine Son and shows us how to love, trust and obey Jesus. There is no greater human protector of our heart than Mary; she is the true port in the storms of life. Her heart was sorely tested on numerous occasions, and it was spiritually crucified during at least two trials of faith. She knows what it takes to have a healthy and fruit-bearing tree of life, and she longs to protect our trees of life so that they can be a true and holy home for God and give birth to Christ in our life.

John’s gospel today has a very powerful sentence: “The one who has the bride is the bridegroom; the best man, who stands and listens for him, rejoices greatly at the bridegroom’s voice” (John 3:29). John the Baptist is saying that he is the best man and Jesus is the groom. The groom is the one who ends up with the bride, and together they start a family and have children. Jesus’ bride is the Church; He will always remain faithful to her, even when she is not faithful to Him. He will never, nor has He ever, divorced her; He gave up His life for her, and He will remain with her to the end.

As each of us is one of her members, in that manner Jesus takes us on as a bride, too. All followers of Christ, all members of the Church, are thereby also His brides; we are brides in the one bride, the Church. This is the way it was from the very beginning. As God says in Genesis 1:26, “Let us make man in our image.” Being made in God’s image means that God made us to be His spouse. Jesus comes to fulfill, above all else, this reality that was from the very beginning, from the very first words of the very first sentence that has anything to do with man in the Bible. We are made to be God’s spouse, and so now the Divine Bridegroom has come to take us to Himself. All we have to do is give ourselves to Him in return, as a bride gives herself to her bridegroom. If we do and only if we do, will we bear good fruit.

Thanks for reading and your prayers.
Copyright 2007.
All rights reserved.