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 beside 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 nurst Her tender buds to blossoms ...and you know It was in 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 favourite 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,Oh,more a thousand times than all the rest!
