LOVE

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.