Naming Ceremony Readings

[WestCountryLass]

Any suggestions for a jolly reading (non-religious) for a naming ceremony?

TIA

[ninja]

The humanist society do a guide to non-religious naming ceremonies with some good readings and ideas.

Here's the link

[PortAndLemon]

Ode on the Whole Duty of Parents -- Frances Cornford

The spirits of children are remote and wise,
They must go free
Like fishes in the sea
Or starlings in the skies,
Whilst you remain
The shore where casually they come again.
But when there falls the stalking shade of fear,
You must be suddenly near,
You, the unstable, must become a tree
In whose unending heights of flowering green
Hangs every fruit that grows, with silver bells;
Where heart-distracting magic birds are seen
And all the things a fairy-story tells;
Though still you should possess
Roots that go deep in ordinary earth,
And strong consoling bark
To love and to caress.
Last, when at dark
Safe on the pillow lies an up-gazing head
And drinking holy eyes
Are fixed on you,
When, from behind them, questions come to birth
Insistently,
On all the things that you have ever said
Of suns and snakes and parallelograms and flies,
And whether these are true,
Then for a while you'll need to be no more
That sheltering shore
Or legendary tree in safety spread,
No, then you must put on
The robes of Solomon,
Or simply be
Sir Isaac Newton sitting on the bed.

[WestCountryLass]

It's for my DS who is 1. The ceremony is on Saturday, i'm not normally so last minute.

[PortAndLemon]

If ? Rudyard Kipling

If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too;
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or being lied about, don't deal in lies,
Or being hated, don't give way to hating,
And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise:

If you can dream-and not make dreams your master;
If you can think-and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
And stoop and build 'em up with worn-out tools:

If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breathe a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: "Hold on!"

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with Kings-nor lose the common touch,
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,
If all men count with you, but none too much;
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds' worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,
And ? which is more ? you'll be a Man, my son!

[PortAndLemon]

Welcome to the world ? Si Kahn

Pick me out an old-time song
Sing it right and sing it wrong
Play a tune that's nine months long
Welcome to the World
Take my fiddle and my bow
Play you every tune I know
Keep you dancing while you grow
Welcome to the World

We've got diapers by the pail
Mama's skinny as a rail
Got the whole world by the tail
Welcome to the World
Listen to that baby squall
Must be nearly ten feet tall
And you'd think he'd done it all
Welcome to the World

In my mind I see you clear
Changing through the days and years
And we're glad you're finally here
Welcome to the World
May you grow up proud and strong
May your life be rich and long
May your nights be filled with song
Welcome to the World

[PortAndLemon]

Forever Young lyrics

May life bless and keep you always
May your wishes all come true
May you always do for others
And let others do for you
May you build a ladder to the stars
And climb on every rung
May you stay
Forever young

May you grow up to be righteous
May you grow up to be true
May you always know the truth
And see the light surrounding you
May you always be courageous
Stand upright and be strong
May you stay
Forever young

May your hands always be busy
May your feet always be swift
May you have a strong foundation
When the winds of changes shift
May your heart always be joyful
May your song always be sung
May you stay
Forever young

[PortAndLemon]

Unknown

May the strength of the wind and the light of the sun,
The softness of the rain and the mystery of the moon
Reach you and fill you.
May beauty delight you and happiness uplift you,
May wonder fulfil you and love surround you.
May your step be steady and your arm be strong,
May your heart be peaceful and your word be true.
May you seek to learn, may you learn to live,
May you live to love, and may you love - always.

[PortAndLemon]

A Celtic Benediction

The peace of the running water to you,
The peace of the flowing air to you,
The peace of the quiet earth to you,
The peace of the shining stars to you,
And the love and the care of us all to you.

[PortAndLemon]

from The Newborn (C. Day Lewis)

This mannikin who just now
Broke prison and stepped free
Into his own identity -
Hand, foot and brow
A finished work, a breathing miniature -
Was still, a while ago
A hope, a dread, a mere shape we
Had lived with, only sure
Something would grow
Out of its coiled nine-months nonentity.
... How like a blank sheet
His lineaments appear;
But there's invisible writing here
Which the day's heat
Will show: legends older than language, glum
Histories of the tribe,
Directives from his near and dear -
Charms, curses, rules of thumb -
He will transcribe
Into his own blood to write upon an heir.
... Welcome to earth, my child!
... We time-worn folk renew
Ourselves at your enchanted spring,
As though mankind's begun
Again in you.

[PortAndLemon]

Riders (Robert Frost)

The surest thing there is is we are riders,
And though none too successful at it, guiders,
Through everything presented, land and tide
And now the very air, of what we ride.
What is this talked-of mystery of birth
But being mounted bareback on the earth?
We can just see the infant up astride,
His small fist buried in the busy hide.
There is our wildest mount - the headless horse.
But though it runs unbridled off its course,
And all our blandishments would seem defied,
We have ideas yet that we haven't tried.

[PortAndLemon]

Go, and be happy
You are born into the dazzling light of day.
Go, and be wise
You are born upon an earth which needs new eyes.
Go, and be strong
You are born into a world where love rights wrong.
Go, and be brave
Possess your soul; that you alone can save.

-- Siegfried Sassoon

[PortAndLemon]

Learning to Talk (C. Day Lewis)

See this small one, tiptoe on
The green foothills of the years,
Views a younger world than yours;
When you go down, he'll be the tall one.
Dawn's dew is on his tongue --
No word for what's behind the sky,
Naming all that meets the eye,
Pleased with sunlight over a lawn.
Hear his laughter. He can't contain
The exquisite moment overflowing.
Limbs leaping, woodpecker flying
Are for him and not hereafter.
Tongue trips, recovers, triumphs,
Turning all ways to express
What the forward eye can guess -
That time is his and earth young.
We are growing too like trees
To give the rising wind a voice:
Eagles shall build upon our verse,
Our winged seed are tomorrow's sowing.
Yes, we learn to speak for all
Whose hearts here are not at home,
All who march to a better time
And breed the world for which they burn.
Though we fall once, though we often,
Though we fall to rise not again,
From our horizon sons begin;
When we go down, they will be tall ones.

[PortAndLemon]

Nothing is strange to a child for whom
everything is new.
Where all things are new nothing is novel.
The child does not yet know what belongs and
what does not;
therefore for him all things belong.
The ear of a child is open to all music.
His eyes are open to all arts.
His mind is open to all tongues.
His being is open to all manners.
In the child's country there are no foreigners.

(Kenneth L. Patton, from This World, My Home)

[PortAndLemon]

Let our children learn to be honest, both with themselves and with all others. This is a basic human value.
Let our children learn to love truth. No matter whence it comes, so it be truth let them freely accept it, even when it goes against them. If they do this, they will not be much hampered by prejudice, for wherever truth can enter, prejudice cannot long remain. Moreover, by fidelity to truth the mind is nourished and becomes well grown.
Let our children find courage and discover that they are stronger than the things of which they are afraid. Courage in their dealings with their own lives, courage in speaking out for the right, in condemning injustice, in standing for good against evil, courage to remain loyal to a deep conviction at whatever cost.
Let our children cultivate breadth of humanity: a cordial welcome... for whatever is beneficial to the human race no matter whence it comes.
Let our children cultivate kindness, for it does not often come without cultivation, and it is needed: the world is too harsh.
Let our children cultivate humility. Let our children learn that they are like other people... and that there is good and bad in all of us, and that each of us must make a hard struggle to bring the good out on top. Then, because of their own lost battles, they will acquire a gentle wisdom and walk softly where other people might get hurt.

(A. Powell Davies)

[PortAndLemon]

"Men," said the little prince, "set out on their way in express trains, but they do not know what they are looking for. Then they rush about, and get excited, and turn round and round..."
And he added:
"It is not worth the trouble..."
The well that we had come to was not like the wells of the Sahara. The wells of the Sahara are mere holes dug in the sand. This one was like a well in a village. But there was no village here, and I thought I must be dreaming...
"It is strange," I said to the little prince. "Everything is ready for use: the pulley, the bucket, the rope..."
He laughed, touched the rope, and set the pulley to working. And the pulley moaned, like an old weathervane which the wind has long since forgotten.
"Do you hear?" said the little prince. "We have wakened the well, and it is singing..."
I did not want him to tire himself with the rope.
"Leave it to me," I said. "It is too heavy for you."
I hoisted the bucket slowly to the edge of the well and set it there ? happy, tired as I was, over my achievement. The song of the pulley was still in my ears, and I could see the sunlight shimmer in the still trembling water.
"I am thirsty for this water," said the little prince. "Give me some of it to drink..."
And I understood what he had been looking for.
I raised the bucket to his lips. He drank, his eyes closed. It was as sweet as some special festival treat. This water was indeed a different thing from ordinary nourishment. Its sweetness was born of the walk under the stars, the song of the pulley, the effort of my arms. It was good for the heart, like a present. When I was a little boy, the lights of the Christmas tree, the music of the Midnight Mass, the tenderness of smiling faces, used to make up, so, the radiance of the gifts I received.
"The men where you live," said the little prince, "raise five thousand roses in the same garden ? and they do not find in it what they are looking for."
"They do not find it," I replied.
"And yet what they are looking for could be found in one single rose, or in a little water."
"Yes, that is true," I said.
And the little prince added:
"But the eyes are blind. One must look with the heart..."

(from The Little Prince by Antoine de St-Exupery)

[WestCountryLass]

Thanks PandL, I am liking the one from This World, My Home

[WestCountryLass]

Thanks PandL, I am liking the one from This World, My Home

[LarryVeest]

Wow PortAndLemon - there are some fabulous ones there!

[WestCountryLass]

I managed to find my original script from my eldests naming ceremony with a few suggestions and am going to go for:

A Mothers Wish

I hope my child looks back on today
And sees a Mother who had time to play.
There will be years for cleaning and cooking,
But children grow up when you're not looking.
Tomorrow i'll do all the chores you can mention
But today, my baby needs time and attention.
So settle down, cobwebs, dust, go to sleep,
I'm cuddling my baby, and babies don't keep.

And DH is going to do.

The Second Time Around' by R Styles

but we are changing second to third

You forget, don't you?
That moment when you thought -
and maybe even whispered 'Never again!'
You forget just how tiny they are when they're born.
Everybody says so.
You forget that they don't do much to start off with

• except the never-ending routine of bodily functions.

First time round this was a relief
Giving time for much needed rest and recouperation.
No such luck the third time around
With other children rushing around demanding attention.

Everybody says it is not the same with the second or third baby
And in a way they are right
You've done it before
You know what to expect - more or less!

And yet they are wrong
Because although it's not the same
It's every bit as special
Because yet again, you have a unique child
And no matter how hard you try to treat your children the same
They'll grow up to be different individuals.

And love is jsut as sweet
The third time around.

Thanks for all the suggests PandL

[Bevvymama]

Before You Came


What did we do, in the days before you came?
Vodka, and dancing, and staying out late
Breakfast at tea-time
Reading the papers, a long lie-in
And space in the bed

Now it's daisy chains, and super-heroes
Butterfly wings, and light-sabres
Eating pink cake
Naming stars
And catching snowflakes in our mouths
No room in the bed
And a half-sleep on its edge
While you snore, stretched out, a star-fish

Time escaping, before you came
And cast your spell
And filled the house with possibility;
All the things you want to do
And all the things you're going to be
So - let's make a den
Take our biscuits in
Carve lanterns at Hallowe'en
Watch grown-ups do star jumps on a trampoline
And wonder what we ever did
In the days before you came.

by Beverley Butcher