I've been as far in hyperspace as anyone can...

June 14, 2013 2:48 PM

I'm looking for readings that talk about going on adventures together, or even better, one person taking the lead and showing the other person a lot of adventures.

This is for a wedding. The song Space Girl is actually a pretty good example of what I'm talking about, but doesn't have to be a song or even a poem. It can't be pages and pages long though. Thank you, all you well-read people!

I keep getting directed to Rudyard Kipling or Robert Service but they're a little too macho and loner for me.

posted by small_ruminant to Media & Arts (3 answers total)

Some random ideas that might fit:

Travelling Song (Tolkien)

Upon the hearth the fire is red,
Beneath the roof there is a bed;
But not yet weary are our feet,
Still round the corner we may meet
A sudden tree or standing stone
That none have seen but we alone.
Tree and flower, leaf and grass,
Let them pass! Let them pass!
Hill and water under sky,
Pass them by! Pass them by!

Still round the corner there may wait
A new road or a secret gate,
And though we pass them by today,
Tomorrow we may come this way
And take the hidden paths that run
Towards the Moon or to the Sun.
Apple, thorn, and nut and sloe,
Let them go! Let them go!
Sand and stone and pool and dell,
Fare you well! Fare you well!

Home is behind, the world ahead,
And there are many paths to tread
Through shadows to the edge of night,
Until the stars are all alight.
Then world behind and home ahead,
We'll wander back to home and bed.
Mist and twilight, cloud and shade,
Away shall fade! Away shall fade!
Fire and lamp and meat and bread,
And then to bed! And then to bed!

Sonnet #27 (Shakespeare)

Weary with toil, I haste me to my bed,
The dear repose for limbs with travel tired;
But then begins a journey in my head
To work my mind, when body’s work’s expired:
For then my thoughts–from far where I abide–
Intend a zealous pilgrimage to thee,
And keep my drooping eyelids open wide,
Looking on darkness which the blind do see:
Save that my soul’s imaginary sight
Presents thy shadow to my sightless view,
Which, like a jewel hung in ghastly night,
Makes black night beauteous, and her old face new.
Lo! thus, by day my limbs, by night my mind,
For thee, and for myself, no quiet find.

Travelling (Wordsworth)

This is the spot:—how mildly does the sun
Shine in between the fading leaves! the air
In the habitual silence of this wood
Is more than silent: and this bed of heath,
Where shall we find so sweet a resting-place?
Come!—let me see thee sink into a dream
Of quiet thoughts,—protracted till thine eye
Be calm as water when the winds are gone
And no one can tell whither.—my sweet friend!
We two have had such happy hours together
That my heart melts in me to think of it.

Where the Sidewalk Ends (Silverstein)

There is a place where the sidewalk ends
And before the street begins,
And there the grass grows soft and white,
And there the sun burns crimson bright,
And there the moon-bird rests from his flight
To cool in the peppermint wind.

Let us leave this place where the smoke blows black
And the dark street winds and bends.
Past the pits where the asphalt flowers grow
We shall walk with a walk that is measured and slow,
And watch where the chalk-white arrows go
To the place where the sidewalk ends.

Yes we'll walk with a walk that is measured and slow,
And we'll go where the chalk-white arrows go,
For the children, they mark, and the children, they know
The place where the sidewalk ends.

posted by Celsius1414 at 4:10 PM on June 14, 2013 [4 favorites]

Response by poster: Thank you! I ended up writing my own since I couldn't find anything that fit the bill, exactly, and I used a couple of verses from Space Girl :)

I did find a couple of online sources, for future poem finders. Here's one.
posted by small_ruminant at 1:14 PM on July 15, 2013

Hey! I know this isn't an answer, but just thought I'd let you know that this really helped me! I'm going to be using "Space Girl" in my wedding now. It's really great!
posted by corb at 11:22 AM on July 25, 2013 [1 favorite]