After all that’s said and done,

I still love you:

I love you as the crow flies east

To find a new moon to hunt

Or as a sparrow drifts south

Looking for the new harvests.

I love you as the trees grow red

In under Autumn’s waning gaze,

as the flowers of spring shiver

Under winter’s clinging frost.

I love you as the stars dance in the heavens

As long summer nights slowly seep to

Their end.

I love you like the snow loves to melt

In the breeze over an open, pulsing fire.

I love you with the terrible fever of

A restless July evening,

With the frost-bitten throng of an October toad’s call,

With the open harrows of a looming spring

Or the shaken embrace of a harsh winter.