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 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.
~ Elizabeth Barrett Browning
And the rivers with the oceans;
The winds of heaven mix forever,
With a sweet emotion;
Nothing in the world is single;
All things by a law divine
In one another's being mingle:
Why not I with thine?
See! the mountains kiss high heaven,
And the waves clasp one another;
No sister flower would be forgiven
If it disdained its brother;
And the sunlight clasps the earth,
And the moonbeams kiss the sea:
What are all these kissings worth,
If thou kiss not me?
~ Percy Bysshe Shelley
stopping to look at it; and yet when you are present
with me I scarce ever cast my eyes on it. If a picture,
which is but a mute representation of an object, can
give such pleasure, what cannot letters inspire? They
have souls; they can speak; they have in them all that
force which expresses the transports of the heart; they
have all the fire of our passions, they can raise them as
much as if the persons themselves were present; they
have all the tenderness and the delicacy of speech, and
sometimes even the boldness of expression beyond it.
We may write to each other; so innocent a pleasure
is not denied us. Let us not lose through negligence the
only happiness which is left us, and the only one per-
haps which the malice of our enemies can never ravish
from us. I shall read that you are my husband and you
shall see me sign myself your wife. In spite of all our
misfortunes you may be what you please in your letter.
Letters were first invented for consoling such solitary
wretches as myself. Having lost the substantial pleasures
of seeing and possessing you, I shall in some measure
compensate this loss by the satisfaction I shall find in
your writing. There I shall read your most sacred
thoughts; I shall carry them always about with me, I
shall kiss them every moment; if you can be capable of
any jealousy let it be for the fond caresses I shall
bestow upon your letters, and envy only the happiness
of those rivals.
