Love Grows Poem by Seamus O' Brian

Once with a heart that
Skipped and burned
With every frantic thought of you.
Once with hands that betrayed me, turned
trembling, clammy, so oft with you.

Love was a concussion of fireworks,
The pounding of the ocean's surf
Within my heart with threat to burst-
Inside my chest when you were near
And fail with absence' curse.

But Love grows.

Like an acorn into frantic life
Bursts forth, an eager expulsion
Of newborn growth, Life's first light,
How rapid it grows, unfolding-
A genetically driven explosion.

Yet draws itself higher and
Stronger. Slowly and steady
It reaches for the open sky,
Patiently growing deeper into
The earth it grips, hidden. Slow.

So Love grows.

The sound of the wind
as it passes through the leaves
and sways the creaking boughs
of the unconcerned oak
Does not measure his strength.

The crashing arcs tumbling down
Upon the rocks and sand
Of ten thousand strands of
Beach and coast do not
Measure the strength of the sea.

Yet Love grows.


And the power of the sea is found
Not in the crashing of the shorebound waves,
But in the quiet, inexorable deeps,
Unmoveable, unchangeable depths.
Yes, the measure of the ocean's strength
Is found in those unchanging deeps.

And the fury of the hurricane's raging whip
That assails the acorn's mighty gift
And finds it standing where it stood;
In dignity, quiet, unperturbed once more.
To stand against the furied blast,
Ah, such is the measure of its quiet strength.

So Love Grows

For the measure of our love
Is no more the racing of young hearts,
But the force of the storms it has withstood,
And will withstand, though all hell rise against it,
For in love we vow again
With heart and soul to stand
Together in life and death as one.

Though rich or poor; through day and night
Through the fury of the storms and in
The quiet of the mornings after-
Through grief and joy; peace and sorrow
Pain and healing.

Our love has grown.

On this side of life I have known
The strength of love, born from above
Tempered by fire and tried by time.
Quiet though it be, not tumultuous;
Not in turbulence of emotion,
But deep, unmoveable, unchanging.
Measured not in words or gifts
But in patience, grace, forgiveness.

Even so our love has grown.

Love...'bears all things, believes all things,
hopes all things, endures all things.
Love never fails.' 1 Corinthians 13: 5

Thank you, Joanne, for sharing your love and your life with me.