....You Ask How Much I Love You by Charles Wiles

....You Ask How Much I Love You 

You ask how much I love you
And then you ask once more
And so my love I'll tell you now
As I did once before.

I love you more than flowers love
The rising of the sun
I love you more than horses love
The plains on which they run.

I love you more than eagles love
The currents way up high
I love you more than rainbows love
The droplets in the sky.

I love you more than fishes love
The sea in which they swim
I love you more than sea birds love
The waves on which they skim.

I love you more than moonbeams love
The planets as they turn
I love you more than starships love
The gases that they burn.

I love you more than Paris loved
Fair Helen when in Troy
I love you more than any girl
Has every loved a boy.

I love you more than Shakespeare loved
The muses in his verse
I love you more than rich old men
Love money in their purse.

I love you more than lollipops
I love you more than cheese
I even love you somewhat more than
Than honey made by bees!

I love you more than yesterday,
And every day before,
But I think that when tomorrow comes
I'll love you even more.

I love you quite a lot you see
But this I must impress
I love you more than any words
Could ever help express.


~ Charles Wiles

I love you...by Nizar Qabbani

I knew when I said
I love you
that I was inventing a new alphabet
for a city where no one could read that 

I was saying my poems
in an empty theater
and pouring my wine
for those who could not
taste it.
.
~ Nizar Qabbani
Art by Joana Kruse

Whisper, "I love you! I love you!" To the whole mad world.....by Hafiz

Go for a walk, if it is not too dark.
Get some fresh air, try to smile.
Say something kind
To a safe-looking stranger, if one happens by.

Always exercise your heart's knowing.

You might as well attempt something real
Along this path:

Take your spouse or lover into your arms
The way you did when you first met.
Let tenderness pour from your eyes
The way the Sun gazes warmly on the earth.

Play a game with some children.
Extend yourself to a friend.
Sing a few ribald songs to your pets and plants -
Why not let them get drunk and wild!

Let's toast
Every rung we've climbed on Evolution's ladder.
Whisper, "I love you! I love you!"
To the whole mad world.

Let's stop reading about God -
We will never understand Him.

Jump to your feet, wave your fists,
Threaten and warn the whole Universe

That your heart can no longer live
Without real love!

~ Hafiz
From I Heard God Laughing -
Renderings of Hafiz by Daniel Ladinsky

Oh friend, I love you.....by Kabir

Oh friend, I love you, 
think this over carefully! 

If you are in love,
then why are you asleep? 

If you have found him,
give yourself to him, take him.

Why do you lose track of him
again and again?

If you are about to fall into heavy sleep anyway,
why waste time smoothing the bed
and arranging the pillows?

Kabir will tell you the truth:
this is what love is like:

suppose you had to cut your head off
and give it to someone else,
what difference would that make?

~ Kabir
Kabir: Ecstatic Poems
Trans by Robert Bly

Love says, I love you ...~ Maya Angelou

Love liberates ...
It doesn’t just hold ... That's ego ...

Love liberates ...
It doesn't bind ...

Love says,
I love you ...

I love you if you’re in China ...
I love you if you’re across town ...
I love you if you’re in Harlem ...
I love you ...

I would like to be near you ...
I’d like to have your arms around me ...
I’d like to hear your voice in my ear ...

But that’s not possible now, so I love you ...

~ Maya Angelou
Art by Inna Montano