Aliyah's Wedding Day

or A Medieval Wedding

Áindle ÓDiarmada's Request to the Baron Angus Gove MacKinnon and Baroness Ciara McRobbie for Aliyah bat Asriel ben Gilead’s Hand in Marriage

Your gracious Excellences,

It is my desire to bring to an end the search and longing of my heart for the woman who will join with me and allow me to be complete - becoming one as husband and wife.

I have brought back from the Holy Land one who as King Lemuel says in Proverbs 31: "is worth far more than rubies, who selects wool and flax and works with eager hands. She considers a field and buys it, out of her earnings she plants a vineyard. She sees that her trading is profitable, and sees that her lamp does not go out at night. She opens her arms to the poor and extends her her hands to the needy. She makes linen garments and sells them, and supplies the merchant with sashes. She is clothed with strength and dignity; she can laugh at the days to come. She speaks with wisdom, and faithful instruction is on her tongue. She watches over the affairs of her household and does not eat the bread of idleness.

She is the perfect woman from all I have seen in our travels. She is a true friend and as Aristotle said, "A true friend is one soul in two bodies. " Although it has really been only a short time and Aristotle also said, "For one swallow does not make the summer, nor does one day; and so too one day, or a short time, does not make a man blessed or happy. " I do think I have been blessed to have been with her and that I can be truly happy with her as my partner - my wife. For I do not believe her goodness of character will change as Aristotle also said, "We are what we repeatedly do." And she is repeatedly good, kind, gentle and wise.

I find that when I am apart from her, I can think of nothing but her smile, her laugh, the limpid pools of her gray/green/hazel eyes. I find that I can think of naught but this lady of all most fair. I pray that my love could surround her. But do I have the right or courage to dare, for she brings peace and joy to all who meet her. All men fall in love with her, falling prostrate at her feet, and I am but a humble merchant and a worker of wood - or was until I met her. Did not the bishop recently quote an ancient sage as saying, "If our thoughts and hopes are elsewhere, it is impossible for us to set our faces steadily toward the work required of us." I find this is true as I am apart from her, as I find myself wanting to taste the sweetness of the wine of her kisses, to hold her in my arms forever and for always....

Again I am lost in thinking of her and not attending to the task at hand -

So, M'Lord and M'Lady, I could continue to pour the longing of my heart out to your Excellences, but I will quiet the racing beat of my heart in contemplation of the possibility her becoming my wife and ask -

Will you be gracious and merciful to this humble servant and grant him the hand of the fair and wondrous Aliyah?

I will be anxiously awaiting your answer,

Áindle ÓDiarmada