To My Dear and Loving Husband

If ever two were one, then surely we.
If ever man were loved by wife, then thee;
If ever wife was happy in a man,
Compare with me ye women if you can.
I prize thy love more than whole mines of gold,
Or all the riches that the East doth hold.
My love is such that rivers cannot quench,
Nor ought but love from thee give recompense.
Thy love is such I can no way repay;
The heavens reward thee manifold, I pray.
Then while we live, in love let’s so persever,
That when we live no more we may live ever.

Anne Bradstreet (1612-1672) was born in England and emigrated to the Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1630. Her brother published a collection of her work in England in 1650, and two books were published posthumously. She is one of the first English-language writers in the American colonies.
*Photo courtesy of Agnes Kantaruk.
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