Weddings

Here's a poem written to be read at the wedding of Paul and Chloe Banks.

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I reached in and confirmed it was a rubber foot

BBC Website quote of the day, 20th August 2008

For Paul and Chloe

These stories get repeated with such frequency

I've almost stopped believing in them any more;

for every Big Foot sighting, there'll be a yeti,

for every shot of Nessie, a beast on the moor.

The stuff of tales around the campfire, all the myths

that once would make my pulse race and my ears prick up

you'll find that I no longer buy: and even if

you tell it well, and raise a solitary goosebump,

you'd need more than an ice-encased gorilla suit

before I'm likely to believe you've found the truth.

The same thing goes for Happy Endings and True Love:

I've been around for long enough to know that these

exist, for the most part, in paper-back novels

and thirteen-year-olds'-sleep-over-talk, and day dreams.

The theory that you'd find someone to be a part

of something special with, the mere idea of it:

that you might hope to find someone who'll hold your heart

with theirs, is about as convincing as Big Foot.

Some con-men brought what they'd 'found' on their hiking route,

I reached in and confirmed it was a rubber foot.

But, having said all that, and though my expertise

might lie in myth and legend, stories poets tell,

I note there are exceptions to the rule: sometimes

we're able to witness something unusual.

For every thousand hoaxes and for every shard

of broken teenage heart, we come across the real

deal, the one we've tried so hard to find, the word

we thought we'd never hear, the love we've longed to feel.

A find this rare is surely cause to celebrate;

this is what matters.  Big Foot and his friends can wait.