THE GREATEST LOVE

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 that 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 enought 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 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