for love's sake.

if thou must love me, let it be for nought

if thou must love me, let it be for nought
except for love's sake only. do not say-
"i love her for her smile-her look-her way
of speaking gently-for a trick of thought
that falls in well with mine, and certes brought
a sense of pleasant ease-on such a day."-
for these things in themselves, beloved, may
be changed, or change for thee-and love-so wrought,
may be unwrought so. neither love me for
thine own dear pity's wiping my tears dry-
a creature might forget to weep, who bore
thy comfort long, and lose their love thereby!
but love me for love's sake, that evermore
thou may'st love on, through Love's eternity

-elizabeth barrett browning

life.

A crust of bread and a corner to sleep in,
A minute to smile and an hour to weep in,
A pint of joy to a peck of trouble,
And never a laugh but the moans come double;
And that is life!

A crust and a corner that love makes precious,
With a smile to warm and the tears to refresh us;
And joy seems sweeter when cares come after,
And a moan is the finest of foils for laughter;
And that is life!
-paul laurence dunbar.

i would live in your love.

I would live in your love as the sea-grasses live in the sea,Borne up by each wave as it passes, drawn down by each wave that recedes;

I would empty my soul of the dreams that have gathered in me,I would beat with your heart as it beats, I would follow your soul as it leads.

-sara teasdale.

there is another sky...

There is another sky,
Ever serene and fair,
And there is another sunshine,
Though it be darkness there;

Never mind faded forests, Austin,
Never mind silent fields -Here is a little forest,
Whose leaf is ever green;

Here is a brighter garden,
Where not a frost has been;
In its unfading flowers
I hear the bright bee hum:
Prithee, my brother,
Into my garden come!

-emily dickinson
image from papertissue

sweet. heart.

I'm really not one to glorify sadness, but William has found beauty and the poetic in those places. I'm so thankful for his vulnerability & simplicity in sharing his heart through his music. Nothing fancy, just honesty & a heavy dose of reality and voila: beauty.

love after love: derek walcott

the time will come
when, with elation,
you will greet yourself arriving
at your own door, in your own mirror,
and each will smile at the other's welcome,

and say, sit here. eat.
you will love again the stranger who was your self.
give wine. give bread. give back your heart
to itself, to the stranger who has loved you

all your life, whom you ignored
for another, who knows you by heart.
take down the love letters from the bookshelf,

the photographs, the desperate notes,
peel your own image from the mirror.
sit. feast on your life.

-taken from http://or-so-i-feel.blogspot.com/2009/04/love-after-love.html