This weekend, America had the closest thing we’ve ever had to a royal wedding. While we don’t normally cover political nuptials on Literary Traveler, one detail of Chelsea Clinton’s wedding stood out to me: Her choice of poem. Clinton used a tribute from the poet Leo Marks to his girlfriend Ruth, who died in a plane crash in Canada in 1943. For those unfamiliar with this rather obscure writer, here is The Life That I Have:
The life that I have
Is all that I have
And the life that I have
Is yoursThe love that I have
Of the life that I have
Is yours and yours and yours.A sleep I shall have
A rest I shall have
Yet death will be but a pause
For the peace of my years
In the long green grass
Will be yours and yours and yours.
For more information on this poignant piece, check out the discussion of the use of poems in politics over at Forbes.