Why Do I Love You?

How Do I Love Thee?

How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.
I love thee to the depth and breadth and height
My soul can reach, when feeling out of sight
For the ends of Being and ideal Grace.
I love thee to the level of every day's
Most quiet need, by sun and candlelight.
I love thee freely, as men strive for Right;
I love thee purely, as they turn from Praise.
I love with a 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.

Elizabeth Barrett Browning

Why Do I Love You?

Why do I love you?  For you often slip away. 

I love you with each piece of core I possess

Impregnated by your attention and precious caress

Though poignantly cry when ‘us’ gets delayed.

I love you like an angel’s kiss before sleep

bringing dreams to life, and wakening amid hope

to another day of obstacles, yet comfort to cope

through our separation moving towards complete.

I love you openly, as a book reveals its true worth,

comforted by words, move forward toward a gentle soul

who I will love even after I become part of this earth.

I’ll fight to the depths of this world to reach my goal,

In keeping the man I’ve searched for since birth,

hold hands towards the Pearly Gates in our final stroll.

Bea Sempere