WEBVTT

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There's another family poem
called, "A Wedding Toast."

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That's what it is.

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It was written for the wedding
of my eldest son, Christopher,

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two summers back, summer
of 1971, Bastille Day.

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It starts out by
referring to the account

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of the wedding in Cana of
Galilee as St. John gives it,

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and, taking
seriously, St. John's

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amazing figures as to
the quantity of wine

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which Jesus provided in the
waning hours of a party,

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infinitely more than
they could possibly need.

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It has the wonderful
preposterousness

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of the miracles, generally.

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"St. John tells how, at
Cana's wedding feast,

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the water-pots poured
wine in such amount

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that by his sober
count there were

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a hundred gallons at the least.

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It made no earthly
sense, unless to show

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how whatsoever love
elects to bless brims

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to a sweet excess that can
without depletion overflow.

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Which is to say
that what love sees

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is true; that the world's
fullness is not made but found.

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Life hungers to abound and pour
its plenty out for such as you.

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Now, if your loves will
lend an ear to mine,

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I toast you both, good
son and dear new daughter.

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May you not lack for water,
and may that water smack

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of Cana's wine. "

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Actually, if you take all that
business of how many firkins

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of water were
transformed into wine,

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it's more than 100
gallons, I'd say,

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but I couldn't get the
full amount into the line.

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