
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 goldOr all the riches that the East doth hold.Nor ought but love from thee, give recompense.My love is such that rivers cannot quench,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 persevereThat when we live no more, we may live ever.
--Anne Bradstreet, 1678--