I like you and I know why. I like you because you are a good person to like. I like you because when I tell you something special, you know it’s special And you remember it a long, long time. You say, “Remember when you told me something special?” And both of us remember When I think something is important you think it’s important too We have good ideas When I say something funny, you laugh I think I’m funny and you think I’m funny too Hah-hah! I like you because if you find two four-leaf clovers, you give me one If we only find three, we keep on looking Sometimes we have good luck, and sometimes we don’t And I like you because when I am feeling sad You don’t always cheer me up right away Sometimes it is better to be sad I like you because I don’t know why but Everything that happens is nicer with you I can’t remember when I didn’t like you It must have been lonesome then I like you because because because I forget why I like you but I do.” If I find four, I give you two
Touched by an Angel – Maya Angelou
We, unaccustomed to courage exiles from delight live coiled in shells of loneliness until love leaves its high holy temple and comes into our sight to liberate us into life. Love arrives and in its train come ecstasies old memories of pleasure ancient histories of pain. Yet if we are bold, love strikes away the chains of fear from our souls. We are weaned from our timidity In the flush of love’s light we dare be brave And suddenly we see that love costs all we are and will ever be. Yet it is only love which sets us free.
Scaffolding – Seamus Heaney
Masons, when they start upon a building, Are careful to test out the scaffolding;
Make sure that planks won’t slip at busy points, Secure all ladders, tighten bolted joints.
And yet all this comes down when the job’s done Showing off walls of sure and solid stone.
So if, my dear, there sometimes seem to be Old bridges breaking between you and me
Never fear. We can let the scaffolds fall Confident that we have built our wall.
Resignation –Nikki Giovanni
I love you because the Earth turns around the sun Because the North wind blows north, Sometimes Because the Pope is Catholic And most Rabbis Jewish Because winters flow into springs And the air clears after a storm Because only my love for you Despite the charms of gravity Keeps me falling off this Earth Into another dimension I love you because it is the natural order of things I love you like the habit I picked up in college Of sleeping through lectures Or saying I’m sorry When I get stopped for speeding Because I drink a glass of water In the morning And chain-smoke cigarettes All through the day Because I take my coffee black And my milk with chocolate Because you keep my feet warm Though my life a mess I love you because I don’t want it Any other way I am helpless in my love for you It makes me so happy to hear you call my name I am amazed you can resist locking me in an echo chamber Where your voice reverberates through the four walls Sending me into spasmatic ecstasy I love you because it’s been good For so long That if I didn’t love you I’d have to be born again And that is not a theological statement I am pitiful in my love for you The Dells tell me Love is so simple The thought though of you Sends indescribably delicious multitudinous Thrills throughout and through-in my body I love you because no two snowflakes are alike And it is possible If you stand tippy-toe to walk between the raindrops I love you because I am afraid of the dark And can’t sleep in the light Because I rub my eyes When I wake up in the morning And find you there Because you with all your magic powers Were determined that I should love you because there was nothing or you but that I would love you I love you because you made me Want to love you more than I love my privacy Commitments My freedom And responsibilities I love you ‘cause I changed my life to love you Because you saw me one Friday Afternoon and decided that I would Love you I love you I love you I love you
Glaucoma – Rives
When you and I are old and grey...
I'll have a belly, a hound dog named Shakespeare and a pickup truck.
You will have a pretty cotton dress and glaucoma, which will steal your sight. And you'll stand on our porch in the morning with your face to the sky, and I'll come outside with the birdseed or something, going: "Whoa, whoa, baby--don't stare right into the sun like that!"
And you'll say: "Oh, you old poop! I may be blind, but I'm not a dope... I'm a heliotrope. That's a fancy word for sunflower, if you don't remember!"
And I'll go: "Awwwww--I know heliotrope, hell... I invented it!" And then I'll whisper: "Hey. The yonder is just as wild and blue as people say it is today. And you can't see, but... I haven't done yard work for weeks. The crabgrass is practically piggyback on the buttercups, Buttercup, but I love you. I love you. And I'm gonna keep you mine like a crow loved to hold an old telephone line, remember those?"
And you'll say: "What, crows?" And I'll go: "Nahhh--telephone lines.Remember? Back in the dayswhen the bedding was yours but the bed was mine. You remember that, Sunshine?"
And then I'll shuffle back indoors, bent but still feisty, and I'll do what I always do.
I'll lie on the floor with a scrap, and a pen, I'll write a poem, describe the rest of the day for you you blind, old...