I WILL not let you say a woman's part Must be to give exclusive love alone; Dearest, although I love you so, my heart Answers a thousand claims besides your own. I love, -- what do I not love? Earth and air Find space within my heart, and myriad things You would not deign to heed are cherished there, And vibrate on its very inmost strings. I love the summer, with her ebb and flow Of light and warmth and music, that have nursed Her tender buds to blossoms...and you know It was in the summer that I saw you first. I love the winter dearly too,...but then I owe it so much; on a winter's day, Bleak, cold, and stormy, you returned again When you had been those weary months away. I love the stars like friends; so many nights I gazed at them, when you were far from me, Till I grew blind with tears...those far-off lights Could watch you, whom I longed in vain to see. I love the flowers; happy hours lie Shut up within their petals close and fast: You have forgotten, dear; but they and I Keep every fragment of the golden Past. I love, too, to be loved; all loving praise Seems like a crown upon my life, -- to make It better worth the giving, and to raise Still nearer to your own the heart you take. I love all good and noble souls; -- I heard One speak of you but lately, and for days, Only to think of it, my soul was stirred In tender memory of such generous praise. I love all those who love you, all who owe Comfort to you; and I can find regret Even for those poorer hearts who once could know, And once could love you, and can now forget. Well, is my heart so narrow, -- I, who spare Love for all these? Do I not even hold My favorite books in special tender care, And prize them as a miser does his gold? The poets that you used to read to me While summer twilights faded in the sky; But most of all I think Aurora Leigh, Because -- because -- do you remember why? Will you be jealous? Did you guess before I loved so many things? -- Still you the best: -- Dearest, remember that I love you more, O, more a thousand times, than all the rest! | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...SPOON RIVER ANTHOLOGY: PENNIWIT, THE ARTIST by EDGAR LEE MASTERS EPITAPHS OF THE WAR, 1914-18: BATTERIES OUT OF AMMUNITION by RUDYARD KIPLING MAN FRAIL AND GOD ETERNAL by ISAAC WATTS RELIGIOUS ISOLATION, TO A REPUBLICAN FRIEND by MATTHEW ARNOLD SONNETS OF MANHOOD: 19. THE SOUTHERN PASSION by GEORGE BARLOW (1847-1913) |