How Do I Love Thee?

How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.
I love thee to the depth and breadth and height
My soul can reach, when feeling out of sight
For the ends of Being and ideal Grace.
I love thee to the level of everyday’s
Most quiet need, by sun and candle-light.
I love thee freely, as men strive for Right;
I love thee purely, as they turn from Praise.
I love thee with a passion put to use
In my old griefs, and with my childhood’s faith.
I love thee with a love I seemed to lose
With my lost saints, —- I love thee with the breath,
Smiles, tears, of all my life! —- and, if God choose,
I shall but love thee better after death.

—Elizabeth Barrett Browning (1806-1861)

I’ve said those three precious words over and over; it’s something you already know. Yet the mere sounds I make with my throat, tongue and lips are never enough to express the extent of these emotions deep in my chest…

I love you, so deeply that it doesn’t make sense anymore and I doubt it ever would.

I want to show you how I feel, I want you to know
                                                                                why I love you,
                                                                                                  what I love about you,
                                                                                                                      how much I love you.
So let me count the ways…