I want to bathe you and kiss your feet and hold your hand and take you out and talk about yesterday and today and carry your bags and laugh at your doubts and give you music you don’t listen to and watch great films and watch terrible films and complain about the weather and watch you when you’re sleeping and fetch you tea and croissants and tell you about what this woman was wearing the other day and take you to the doctor’s and listen to your digressions and want you in the morning but let you sleep and kiss your back and smell your neck and tell you how much I love your eyes your lips your hands your breasts your… and sit in the basement waiting till you finish and be amazed when it’s done for the day and buy you birds of paradise and look at your photos and wish I’d known you since I was born and hear your voice in my ear and feel your sweat on my skin and get scared when you’re too quiet and your eye has gone red from crying and the other eye tinged with sadness and kiss your cheek and tell you you’re gorgeous and hold you when you hurt and spoon you when we’re silent and want you when I see your eyes shine in the sun and offend you when I touch you and whimper when I’m next to you and whimper when I’m not and suckle on your breast and cloak you in the night and get cold when you take the blanket and hot when you don’t and melt when you smile and dissolve when you laugh and not understand why you think I’m rejecting your love when I’m not rejecting your love and wonder how you could think I’d ever reject your love and wonder who you are but be grateful you are and tell you stories of ruby and the king and a boylikegirl who flew across the ocean because she loved you and write poems for you and wonder why you don’t respond to my letters even to say you got my letters and wonder why you don’t believe I could love you so long and want to buy you all the cloth in the world and keep you in bed when you have to go and feel the world empty itself of love when you finally do and get rid of the rodents and ask you to marry me again and again and watch you smile and say nothing but keep on asking because though you think I just say it, I do mean it and have from the first time I asked and wander the world thinking it’s as good as dead without you and want what you want and wonder if I’m losing myself but know I’m safe with you and tell you the worst of me and try to give you the best of me because you don’t deserve any less and answer your questions when I’d rather not and tell you the truth when I really don’t want to and try to be honest because it can’t be any other way and think it’s all over but hang on in for just ten more minutes before you throw me out of your life and forget who I am and try to get closer to you because it’s a beautiful learning to know you and well worth the pain and speak Hindi to you badly and Persian to you worse and make love with you at six in the morning and somehow somehow somehow communicate an ounce of the overwhelming undying overpowering unconditional all-encompassing heart-enriching mind-expanding on-going never-ending love I have for you.

(Rewritten and personalised from the original by Sarah Crane)