I love thee to the level of everyday's
Most quiet need, by sun and candle-light.
I love thee freely, as men strive for Right.
I love thee purely as they turn from Praise.
I love thee with the passion put to use
In my old griefs, and with my childhood's faith.
I love thee with a love I seemed to lose
With my lost saints, I love thee with the breath,
Smiles, tears, of all my life! and, if God choose,
I shall but love thee better after death.
Because you love me, I have found
New joys that were not mine before;
New stars have lightened up my sky
With glories growing more and more.
Because you love me I can rise
To the heights of fame and realms of power;
Because you love me I may learn
The highest use of every hour.
Because you love me I can choose
To look through your dear eyes and see
Beyond the beauty of the Now
Far onward to Eternity.
Because you love me I can wait
With perfect patience well possessed;
Because you love me all my life
Is circled with unquestioned rest;
Yes, even Life and even Death
Is all unquestioned and all blest.
When love beckons to you, follow him,
Though his ways are hard and steep.
And when his wings enfold you yield to him.
Thought the sword hidden among his
opinions may wound you.
And when he speaks to you believe in him,
Though his voice may shatter your dreams
as the north wind lays waste the garden.
For even as love crowns
you so shall he crucify you.
Even as he is for your growth
so is he for your pruning.
Even as he ascends to your height and caresses
your tenderest branches that quiver in the sun,
So shall he descend to your roots and shake them
in their clinging to the earth.
Like sheaves of corn he gathers you unto himself.
He threshes you to make you naked.
He sifts you to free you from your husks.
He grinds you to whiteness.
He kneads you until you are pliant;
And then he assigns you to his sacred fire,
that you may become sacred bread
for God's sacred feast.
Love gives naught but itself
and takes naught but from itself.
Love possesses not nor would it be possessed;
For love is sufficient unto love.
You are all that I have to live for
All that I want to love,
All that the whole world holds for me
Of a faith in the world above!
You came and it seems to mighty
For my humble heart to hold;
It seemed, in it’s sacred glory,
Like a glimpse through the Gate of Gold
Like life in the perennial Eden,
Created, formed anew
This dream of perfect manhood
That I realize in you.
God created me a woman,
With a nature just as true
As the blue, eternal ocean
As the sky that is over you,
And you are mine until your maker calls you
Your soul and your body, sweet!
Your breath, and the whole of your being,
From your kingly head to your feet
Your eyes, and the light that is in them
Your lips, with their maddening wine
Your arms, with their passionate clasp, my King
Your body and soul are mine.
No power whatsoever,
No will but God’s alone,
Can take you from my keeping;
You are His and mine alone!
I know not where, if ever
I know not when or how
Death’s hands may try the fetters
That bind us here and now;
But some day, when God beckons,
Where rise His fronded palms,
My soul shall cross the River
And lay you in His arms;
Forever and forever.
Beyond the Silent Sea,
You will rest in the Arms Eternal,
And still belong to me.
Lord, may there be no moment in her life
When she regrets that she became my wife,
And keep her dear eyes just a trifle blind
To my defects, and to my failings kind!
Help me to do the utmost that I can
To prove myself her measure of a man,
But, if I often fail as mortals may,
Grant that she never sees my feet of clay!
And let her make allowance, now and then,
That we are only grown-up boys, we men,
So, loving all our children, she will see,
Sometimes a remnant of the child in me!
Since years must bring to all their load of care,
Let us together every burden bear,
And when Death beckons one its path along,
May not the two of us be parted long!
You and I by this lamp with these
Few books shut out the world. Our knees
Touch almost in this little space.
But I am glad. I see your face.
The silences are long, but each
Hears the other without speech.
And in this simple scene there is
The essence of all subtleties,
The freedom from all fret and smart,
the one sure sabbath of the heart.
The world--we cannot conquer it,
Nor change the minds of fools one whit.
Here, here alone do we create
Beauty and peace inviolate;
Here night by night and hour by hour
We build a high impregnable tower
Whence may shine, now and again,
A light to light the feet of men
When they see the rays thereof:
And this is marriage, this is LOVE.
These lonely days are slipping slowly by...
The memories, so soft, always make me cry.
Memories of sunshine, laughter and rain...
The loving, the heartache, the letting go, and the pain.
Thousands of pictures pass through my mind...
Lying with you in the robed bed I left behind.
Your world and mine were so close, yet so far...
Now here I stand wishing on the North Star.
My heart cries out for your gentle embrace...
I wish I could look upon your face.
I pray you are happy, healthy, and well...
Coming soon to deliver me from this lonely hell.
I pray that time draws near, my love...
I pray for strength from the Man Above,
"Hurry, my love, my heart cries nearly loud..."
