Epithalamion

The cover of Kevin Young’s collection Blue Laws, showing an image of a stringed instrument and the title printed in red.

An epithalamion (Greek) or epithalamium (Latin) is a poem written for the occasion of a wedding; in the ancient world, it was a song for the bride on her way to the marital bed. Kevin Young’s contemporary version captures the shattering emotional transformation experienced by the about-to-be-married pair: there is adrenaline and uncertainty here as well as exhilaration, and the speaker is conscious of the deep mystery in the creation of a marriage. 

Kevin Young, “Epithalamion.” Blue Laws: Selected & Uncollected Poems 1995-2015. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2016.