I do not wish you joy without a sorrow ~
Nor endless day without the healing dark ~
Nor brilliant sun without the restful shadow ~
Nor tides that turn against your bark.
I wish you love,
and strength,
and faith,
and wisdom,
goods,
gold enough to help some needy one.
I wish you songs, but also blessed silence...
And God's sweet peace when every day is done.
~Dorothy Nell McDonald
L o v e
by Roy Croft
I love you,
Not only for what you are,
But for what I am
When I am with you.
I love you,
Not only for what
You have made of yourself,
But for what
You are making of me.
I love you
For the part of me
That you bring out;
I love you
For putting your hand
Into my heaped-up heart
And passing over
All the foolish, weak things
That you can't help
Dimly seeing there,
And for drawing out
Into the light
All the beautiful belongings
That no one else had looked
Quite far enough to find.
I love you because you
Are helping me to make
Of the lumber of my life
Not a tavern
But a temple;
Out of the works
Of my every day
Not a reproach
But a song.
I love you
Because you have done
More than any creed
Could have done
To make me good
And more than any fate
Could have done
To make me happy.
You have done it
Without a touch,
Without a word,
Without a sign.
You have done it
By being yourself.
Perhaps that is what
Being a friend means,
After all.
I Wish
I wish you the courage to be warm when the world would prefer that you be cool.
I wish you success sufficient to your needs;
I wish you failure to temper that success.
I wish you joy in all your days;
I wish you sadness so that you may better measure joy.
I wish you gladness to overbalance your grief.
I wish you humor and a twinkle in your eye.
I wish you glory and the strength to bear its burdens.
I wish you sunshine on your path and health to carry you on your journey.
I wish you peace -- in the world in which you live and in the smallest corner of you heart where truth is kept.
I wish you faith -- to help define your living and your life.
More I cannot wish you -- except perhaps love -- to make all the rest worthwhile.
-Robert A. Ward
Love Me
Love me because I try to touch life
within the framework of
uncertainty
love me in the shadows
in decisions as I strive to gain
knowledge
love me in the silence of my hurts
and the noise of my
confusions
love me for the feeling of my heart
not the fears of my mind
love me in my search for truth
though I may stumble upon
fallacy
love me as I pursue my dreams
sometimes retarded by illusions
love me as I grow to know myself
even during the times of
stagnation
love me because I seek harmony
not man's discord
love me for my body that I wish to
share with affection,
wrapping you in warmth
love me because we are different
because we are the same
love me that our time together will
be spent in growing, kindling
the world with understanding
love me not with expectations
but with hope
I will love you the same.
Walter Rinder
To My Beloved
I love you freely without restrictions
I love your understanding without doubt
I love your honesty without deceit
I love you creatively without conditioning
I love you now without reservation
I love you physically without pretending
I love your soul without wishing
I love your being without wanting
I love you
Walter Rinder