love in its purest form

i love you,

not only for what you are

but for what i am

when i am with you.

i love you,

not only for what

you have made of yourself

but for what

you are making of me.

i love you,

for the part of me

that you bring out;

i love you,

for putting your hand

into my heaped-up heart

and passing over

all the foolish, weak things

that you can’t help

dimly seeing there,

and for drawing out

into the light

all the beautiful belongings

that no one else had looked

quite far enough to find.

i love you because you

are helping me to make

of the lumber of my life

not a tavern

but a temple;

out of works

of my every day

not a reproach

but a song.