9 Irish Wedding Poems To Add To Your Big Day

Irish wedding poems can be a great addition to a ceremony or pre/post meal.

While they’re very different to Irish wedding blessings and Irish wedding toasts, they come with the same etiquette considerations.

Below, you’ll find our favourite Irish love poems for weddings along with a couple of warnings to consider.

Some things to consider before adding Irish wedding poems to your big day

So, there’s some stuff to get out of the way before we dive into the various Irish love poems for weddings:

1. Decide where/if they’ll fit

A lot of people love the idea of using Irish poems for weddings, but many try to bend part of the big day to fit around them. If you’re set on using one, slot it into a time where it’ll flow naturally with the rest of that part of the day.

2. Think of the reader

Many Irish wedding poems can be intimidating upon first glance (see below!) and some are often hard to master even after several attempts. If you’re planning on using Irish wedding poems, it’s worth allocating one to a reader that is comfortable and confident with talking in public.

3. Shorter tend to be better

There are heaps of long Irish love poems for weddings that span 8+ paragraphs. While they may have great meaning behind them, they can often be a little lengthy for both the audience and the reader. Shorter tend to be better but, as always, pick one that makes you happiest.

Our favourite Irish love poems for weddings

Now that we have the above out of the way, it’s time to show you our favourite Irish wedding poems and readings.

All of the poems below belong to the respected copyright owners, while several are in the public domain. 

1. ‘When You Are Old’ by WB Yeats

First up is ‘When You Are Old’ by WB Yeats. He wrote this poem to an actress that he was in love with, but who didn’t feel the same way.

In the poem, Yeats asks the listener to think forward to a time when they’re ‘old and grey’ and imagine what their life would be like without him.

‘When you are old and grey and full of sleep,
And nodding by the fire, take down this book,
And slowly read, and dream of the soft look
Your eyes had once, and of their shadows deep;

How many loved your moments of glad grace,
And loved your beauty with love false or true,
But one man loved the pilgrim soul in you,
And loved the sorrows of your changing face;

And bending down beside the glowing bars,
Murmur, a little sadly, how Love fled
And paced upon the mountains overhead
And hid his face amid a crowd of stars.’

Related read: Read our guide to 21 of the most unique and unusual Irish wedding traditions

2. ‘On Raglan Road’ by Patrick Kavanagh

‘On Raglan Road’ by Patrick Kavanagh is one of the most popular Irish wedding poems and readings for good reason.

This one is immediately recognisable and the language is easily accessible for the listener, unlike some of the older Irish love poems below.

‘On Raglan Road of an autumn day I saw her first and knew
That her dark hair would weave a snare that I might one day rue
I saw the danger, and I passed along the enchanted way
And I said, let grief be a fallen leaf at the dawning of the day

On Grafton Street in November we tripped lightly along the ledge
Of the deep ravine where can be seen the worth of passion’s pledge
The Queen of Hearts still making tarts and I not making hay
Oh, I loved too much and by such by such is happiness thrown away

I gave her gifts of the mind, I gave her the secret sign
That’s known to the artists who have known the true gods of sound and stone
And word and tint without stint for I gave her poems to say
With her own name there and her own dark hair like clouds over fields of May

On a quiet street where old ghosts meet, I see her walking now
Away from me so hurriedly, my reason must allow
That I had loved not as I should a creature made of clay
When the angel woos the play, he’d lose his wings at the dawning of the day.’

3. ‘Scaffolding’ by Seamus Heaney

‘Scaffolding’ by Seamus Heaney is a gorgeous Irish love poem that’s packed with meaning and that’ll get those in attendance thinking.

It’s short, easy to read aloud and, as you’ll discover when you read it, very appropriate for a wedding day.

‘Masons, when they start upon a building,
Are careful to test out the scaffolding;

Make sure that planks won’t slip at busy points,
Secure all ladders, tighten bolted joints.

And yet all this comes down when the job’s done
Showing off walls of sure and solid stone.

So if, my dear, there sometimes seem to be
Old bridges breaking between you and me

Never fear. We may let the scaffolds fall
Confident that we have built our wall.’

Related read: Read our guide to 21 of the best Irish toasts and Irish blessings for your big day

4. ‘The White Rose’ by John Boyle O’Reilly

‘The White Rose’ by John Boyle O’Reilly is perfect if you have a reader that isn’t overly fond of speaking in public.

It’s short, there’s no tricky language and it has a fine bit of meaning stitched into its lyrics.

‘The red rose whispers of passion,
And the white rose breathes of love;
O, the red rose is a falcon,
And the white rose is a dove.

But I send you a cream-white rosebud
With a flush on its petal tips;
For the love that is purest and sweetest
Has a kiss of desire on the lips.’

Related read: See our guide to 17 of the greatest Irish wedding songs

5. ‘Twice Shy’ by Seamus Heaney

Another one from the brilliant Seamus Heaney, ‘Twice Shy’ is one of the longest Irish wedding poems and readings in this guide.

If you’re using this one alongside other poems/readings, it’s worth noting the length, as it may seem out of place read next to very short poems.

‘Her scarf a la Bardot,
In suede flats for the walk,
She came with me one evening
For air and friendly talk.
We crossed the quiet river,
Took the embankment walk.

Traffic holding its breath,
Sky a tense diaphragm:
Dusk hung like a backcloth
That shook where a swan swam,
Tremulous as a hawk
Hanging deadly, calm.

A vacuum of need
Collapsed each hunting heart
But tremulously we held
As hawk and prey apart,
Preserved classic decorum,
Deployed our talk with art.

Our Juvenilia, Had taught us both to wait,
Not to publish feeling
And regret it all too late –
Mushroom loves already
Had puffed and burst in hate.

So, chary and excited,
As a thrush linked on a hawk,
We thrilled to the March twilight
With nervous childish talk:
Still waters running deep
Along the embankment walk.’

6. ‘The Lark in the Clear Air’ by Sir Samuel Ferguson

‘The Lark in the Clear Air’ by Sir Samuel Ferguson has a beautiful, almost sing-song sound to it when read aloud by the right person.

Best read slowly, it’s a nice medium between long and short Irish wedding poems.

‘Dear thoughts are in my mind
And my soul soars enchanted,
As I hear the sweet lark sing
In the clear air of the day.
For a tender beaming smile
To my hope has been granted,
And tomorrow she shall hear
All my fond heart would say.

I shall tell her all my love,
All my soul’s adoration;
And I think she will hear me
And will not say me nay.
It is this that fills my soul
With its joyous elation,
As I hear the sweet lark sing
In the clear air of the day.’

7. ‘Oh, Call It by Some Better Name’ by Thomas Moore

‘Oh, Call It by Some Better Name’ by Thomas Moore is one of the few poems in this guide that rhymes throughout.

The rhyming pattern in this one makes it easier to read aloud as it flows nicely from beginning to end.

‘Oh, call it by some better name,
For Friendship sounds too cold,
While Love is now a worldly flame,
Whose shrine must be of gold:
And Passion, like the sun at noon,
That burns o’er all he sees,
Awhile as warm will set as soon–
Then call it none of these.

Imagine something purer far,
More free from stain of clay
Than Friendship, Love, or Passion are,
Yet human, still as they:
And if thy lip, for love like this,
No mortal word can frame,
Go, ask of angels what it is,
And call it by that name!’

8. ‘He wishes for the Cloths of Heaven’ by W.B. Yeats

‘He wishes for the Cloths of Heaven’ by W.B. Yeats describes wanting to give gifts to the one you love, but only having your dreams to give.

This is one of the more romantic Irish love poems for weddings and it’s short and sweet, making it a great choice.

‘Had I the heavens’ embroidered cloths,
Enwrought with golden and silver light,

The blue and the dim and the dark cloths
Of night and light and the half-light,

I would spread the cloths under your feet:
But I, being poor, have only my dreams;

I have spread my dreams under your feet;
Tread softly because you tread on my dreams.’

9. ‘She Moves Through The Fair’ by Herbert Hughes

So, ‘She Moves Through The Fair’ by Herbert Hughes arguably doesn’t fit into a guide to Irish wedding poems and readings.

It’s more of an Irish love song. However, many people use this as a reading and, as you’ll discover when you hit play above, it flows beautifully.

FAQs about Irish wedding poems and readings

We’ve had a lot of questions over the years asking about everything from ‘What are good Irish love poems for weddings?’ t0 ‘What’s a short and sweet one?’.

In the section below, we’ve popped in the most FAQs that we’ve received. If you have a question that we haven’t tackled, ask away in the comments section below.