How Do I Love Thee?

A Love Note to My Husband

In her sonnet, How Do I Love Thee?, Elizabeth Barrett Browning lists the ways she loves her husband, Robert Browning (fabulous English poet in his own right). From her deep imagery, it’s very clear he is everything to her. Their love story is one for the ages.

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 every day’s
Most quiet need, by sun and candlelight.
I love thee freely, as men strive for Right;
I love thee purely, as they turn from Praise.
I love 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.

Now, I will also count the ways I love my husband. The depth of my words may be much less dramatic, but they are no less meaningful. I place a disclaimer on my poem. It was written in an hour, and it details the events of one week. Browning wrote hers within the first years of her marriage. This poem is not for comparison’s sake, but when you’ve been in love for over thirty-five years, you know a depth of love that fancy words are no substitute for. In every little way of every day, how Rick loves me is swoon-worthy, poem-worthy, and note-worthy. He would never call himself a romantic, but you can be the judge of that.

How Do I Love Thee, Just This Week

I love thee for those special names you call me. 
     Starting them with S is a fun game: Bearser, Sunshine, Striker, Spiker…
I love thy warning when we go out to eat: 
     “Get what you want. Don’t pick what’s cheap.”
I love thee for the credit you bestow—“That was a good idea”—
     when I say let’s take a bike ride on the go.
I love thee for making my wishes come true—
     a walk in the rain to spy an eagle and her babes that are new.
I love thy care every day, putting in my glaucoma drops 
     and kissing me goodnight in your silly way.
I love thee for the turtle candy you threw,
     and the spare one you set by me to keep handy. 
Thanks for the research to rescue my phone. 
     Not for one second did I feel alone.
I love that you bring me coffee and chai tea, 
     and still try to master the Keurig for me. 
Thanks for sharing your dreams every morning (literally).
I love thee for way you love me. We are better together, obviously.

My rendition is slightly less eloquent, but it is no less heart-felt. If I could have but penned them first, I would have added Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s lines:

“…I love thee with the breath,
Smiles, tears, of all my life; and, if God choose, 
I shall but love thee better after death.

With love through the ages,
Bearser