I Will Love You

I will love you every day and in every way, my heart.

I will be with you and love you and hold you,

Through every day of our lives.

Through the bright sunshine of summer, I will love you,

As the birds sing and the grass grows tall.

As the flowers blossom in the meadows,

And the first hay is cut, I will love you.

I will love you as the shadow of autumn touches our land,

With her icy fingers turning all the green things brown, fire red and gold.

As the animals ready their burrows and warrens,

For winter’s cold embrace, I will love you.

I will love you as the last squash and pumpkins are picked,

And autumn’s last gasp strips the leaves from every tree.

I will love you as the first big snowflakes tumble down out of the darkness,

Like cold stars falling from the clear night sky.

I will love you in the bitter cold of winter’s deepest night,

As the blistering, frozen winds rattle the windows and the fire light,

Ripples, and glows from the hearth, I will love you.

In the dazzlingly bright sun of a winter’s morning, I will love you.

When all the land is covered with drifts like ocean waves frozen in time.

I will love you as spring’s first soft caress touches the land,

And the icicles are dripping from the eves.

As the snow melts into torrents that race down the valleys,

And the first strong sun warms our backs, I will love you.

As the first tender green shoots poke their heads from beneath the brown,

Leaves and grass and every living thing begins to awaken,

From the long winters slumber, I will love you.

When spring lays here gentle head down and yields herself up to her lover,

When summer comes again in all his strength and fertile power,

To the bedchamber of our land, I will love you.

I will love you through the turning of every season,

Through the storms and sun and rain.

I will love you in the daylight and in the twilight,

As the bright burning stars wheel over our heads.

I will love you in the dusky grey of morning,

And the soft dappled shadows of evening.

I will love you in every time and in every place.

In the tall grass or the cool waters of the pond,

In the deep shadows of the forest glades, when all is still,

Or in the orchard as the apple blossoms flutter down upon us.

I will love you in the dancing fire light.

I will love you in the smoking curls of mist.

I will love you in every way, every place every time and every day,

Until the end of time itself and still I will love you.

With all the love this heart can wield, I will love you.

Eric M. Petit