August 4th, 2018 was absolutely the best day of my life because I got to marry my best friend. I feel incredibly blessed to have found my equal partner in life. A man as wild in spirit and vulnerable in heart as me. During our wedding ceremony, which took place on a rocky beach on Lummi Island, Washington, we asked Zack's mother, Holly to do a reading. She read aloud an original poem that simply put, blew everyone away. It embodies not only the love that Zack and I share together, but also how integral nature has been in our lives as individuals, and together as a couple. I wanted to share this poem with the Howl Often community, because I believe that every wild woman (and wild man) will connect with, and appreciate the essence of these words, and the remarkable magic of love. ~ Alexandra
“My Son has returned from the Mountain.
Beside him stands the Mountain’s Daughter.
She is beautiful, He is strong,
She is strong, He is beautiful.
She has followed him to the top of the World
Where the Earth, arrayed in dazzling white,
Reaches to kiss the Sky.
He has followed her to the depths of the Wild
Where the giant trees tremble
As the goddesses howl.
Now they stand before us
Where the mountain meets the sea.
They stand on the elusive shoreline
That, like a marriage, shape shifts with the tides.
Yet the moon has cast her spell upon the waves,
And changing though the shore may be,
Land and sea are locked within a dance,
Governed by her Gravity.
May these ones, too, be held in such a dance
By a force beyond what we can understand.
May they ride the ceaseless sea of change,
And trust the tide to bring them back to land.”
Written by Holly Giffin.
Photo by Michael Dyrland