Magician's Wife

Love is a promise

to stay awake with you for ten thousand nights

or until your nightmares no longer frighten you;

To wait for you for a hundred years

or until the love of others

no longer lifts you up;

To plant trees for you

that the birds may come

and lighten your heart with their songs;

Love is to walk through thunderstorms

and cross dark oceans

only to be there to hold your hand

and sit in silence with you

under the starry sky

To tend your fire

through the deep infinite winter

even when frost covers my trembling soul,

Friedrich Wilhelm von Schadow,
detail of The Parable of the
Wise and Foolish Virgins

to catch a glimpse of you,

or even to hear your name

is like the morning breeze in the spring;

Love is to have my heart close to bursting

because the one I love is so deeply and powerfully,

magically, mystically, inexplicably

beautiful

radiant

This is the kind of love

I want to give to you

I may not have much

but the very little imperfect love I have

I want to lay at your feet

I want to devote myself to you

and to dedicate my every effort to you

because my life has worth

when I can sacrifice it for you.