How Do I Love...

How do I love... one can count the ways :

Like a Pearl in an Oyster; fathoms deep,

Pure, lustrous, rare; for the bravest to reap

Like Winter Sunshine, spreading, its rays,

The Core of Coconut, with its milky heap,

It satiates the parched, dusty and thirsty days.

 

How do I love... one can count the ways:

Like the fragrance of flowers, wafting, to sweep,

Across the green of the valley; it stays

Echoing, like a cuckoo's song, haunting and deep,

Merging with the rainbow, after an April shower,

It’s unlike a sedate garden or a trim rose bower.

How do I love... one can count the ways:

Like a river; it meanders and flows;

It's steady, sure, serene and sweet;

Or much like a meteor, when it comes to meet

The earth; blazes a trail; as it leaves and goes.

It has ofttimes its intense highs or lows.

 

How do I love... one can count the ways:

Despite, distance and dreary times, 

It quiet and slow, and like the bamboo, it’s taken

The seven years sabbatical to root; to grow,

It refuses to run away; it won't ever go;

Eternal, sublime is the love of mine.