love

To a Stranger
by Walt  Whitman

Passing stranger! you do not know 
How longingly I look upon you,
You must be he I was seeking, 
Or she I was seeking 
(It comes to me as a dream)

I have somewhere surely 
Lived a life of joy with you,
All is recall'd as we flit by each other,
Fluid, affectionate, chaste, matured,

You grew up with me, 
Were a boy with me or a girl with me,
I ate with you and slept with you, your body has become 
not yours only nor left my body mine only,

You give me the pleasure of your eyes,
face, flesh as we pass,
You take of my beard, breast, hands,
in return,

I am not to speak to you, I am to think of you 
when I sit alone or wake at night, alone 
I am to wait, I do not doubt I am to meet you again

 I am to see to it that I do not lose you.

For Each Ecstatic Instant by Emily  Dickinson For each ecstatic instant We must an anguish pay. In keen and quivering ratio To the ecstasy. For each beloved hour Sharp pittances of years, Bitter contested farthings\\ And coffers heaped with tears.

Sonnets from the Portuguese, XIV
by Elizabeth Barrett Browning

If thou must love me, let it be for nought
Except for love's sake only. Do not say
'I love her for her smile--her look--her way
Of speaking gently,--for a trick of thought
That falls in well with mine, and certes brought
A sense of pleasant ease on such a day
For these things in themselves, Beloved, may
Be changed, or change for thee,--and love, so wrought,
May be unwrought so. Neither love me for
Thine own dear pity's wiping my cheeks dry,
A creature might forget to weep, who bore
Thy comfort long, and lose thy love, thereby!
But love me for love's sake, that evermore
Thou mayst love on, through love's eternity.

If I could have just one wish,
I would wish to wake up everyday
to the sound of your breath on my neck,
the warmth of your lips on my cheek,
the touch of your fingers on my skin,
and the feel of your heart beating with mine...
Knowing that I could never find that feeling
with anyone other than you.

- Courtney Kuchta -