POETRY: "The Life That I Have" by Leo Marks

The Life That I Have 

by Leo Marks

The life that I have

Is all that I have

And the life that I have

Is yours

The 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.

Leo Marks was an English cryptographer, screenwriter and playwright. The poem The Life That I Have was written in memory of his girlfriend Ruth, who died in a plane crash in Canada. It was composed on Christmas Eve in 1943.

And yes, this was a reading from Chelsea Clinton's wedding ceremony!  i liked it because it was not a typical passage (at least, not as typical as many other wedding readings...), and it really is lovely.