[Click the landscape above to hear original music by the author.]

[Thanks to Always_meme, whose poetry inspired this piece]

To love myself,

how hard to do!

And not as fine

as loving you.

Yes, you've flaws.

I love those too.

For what in me

compares to you?

And yet

to love myself

with love that's true,

that pens love

to the letter,

comes only as

I learn to love

the part of me

that loves you better.

Then I find

a life to live

through the gifts

I have to give,

not just to you,

my love—

one day

by death

we'll part—

but what I make,

with every breath,

through word

or art,

for every loving heart

For beauty's sake.

Life's a carriage fine,

pulled by steeds

with noble miens

Once "Yours, not mine" 's

the hand that

takes the reins.