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 works 

of my every day 

not a reproach 

but a song.

~ roy croft