For Elise and Steve on the Occasion of Just After Your Wedding by The Michael Character Lyrics
(spoken)
For Elise & Steve on the Occasion of Just After Your Wedding:
The light hit all of us, but at our own angles—
When the moon reflects off of Boston and onto the Charles, it looks like the all the middlingly-sized skyline columns of light are pointing right at you, and it feels like that for everyone—
That’s what it was when your light hit all of us
The universal filtered through singular experience
With no loss of latency
Like a modern miracle, but ancient
You didn’t write the vows for us, but witness was as good as baptism
And we were all made holy by your love for one another
See, even there—A Jewish service refracted through Christian iconography
But we’re all on the same page here, I think
Because it wasn’t just a union of two
It was communion, like, with a capital C
It was moksha
We were together
We were; together; because of you
In that moment the only "I" that could be dis-aggregated from the beauty was as a strip of wallpaper in a room to house the most resplendent piece in an art museum;
"I" became context for whatever it is that you two have made for each other
I called it love earlier and so did you so let’s leave it at that for the moment
This is all to say that it was bliss to be reminded that love is an end unto itself
And I hope to frame that knowledge, I hope to hang it by mundane nail over every door
So We, like, capital W, We, can renew ourselves in the unnoticed passings through of each ordinary moment with the lived memory of this, the day you gave the gift of your love to each other and held high the light to show us the way
For Elise & Steve on the Occasion of Just After Your Wedding:
The light hit all of us, but at our own angles—
When the moon reflects off of Boston and onto the Charles, it looks like the all the middlingly-sized skyline columns of light are pointing right at you, and it feels like that for everyone—
That’s what it was when your light hit all of us
The universal filtered through singular experience
With no loss of latency
Like a modern miracle, but ancient
You didn’t write the vows for us, but witness was as good as baptism
And we were all made holy by your love for one another
See, even there—A Jewish service refracted through Christian iconography
But we’re all on the same page here, I think
Because it wasn’t just a union of two
It was communion, like, with a capital C
It was moksha
We were together
We were; together; because of you
In that moment the only "I" that could be dis-aggregated from the beauty was as a strip of wallpaper in a room to house the most resplendent piece in an art museum;
"I" became context for whatever it is that you two have made for each other
I called it love earlier and so did you so let’s leave it at that for the moment
This is all to say that it was bliss to be reminded that love is an end unto itself
And I hope to frame that knowledge, I hope to hang it by mundane nail over every door
So We, like, capital W, We, can renew ourselves in the unnoticed passings through of each ordinary moment with the lived memory of this, the day you gave the gift of your love to each other and held high the light to show us the way