I Write This To You In Love (Italian Sonnet) Poem by Gert Strydom

(after Christina Rossetti)

I write this to you in love and not in rebuke,
I love you true but my God the very most,
without Him in love and the world we are lost
and I can at no other deity as a ruler look,

were His voice is gentle like a bubbling brook
and His blessings and love comes without a cost,
where in righteousness He sends out His heavenly host,
daily He shelters me safely in His tranquil nook

and where I love God uppermost and first I do deem
that in sincerity I cannot love you overmuch,
while I do love you intimately as a man true,
where no love would I find for you if I do not love Him
and the love in principle and my heart is such:
that I cannot love and serve Him if there is not love for you.

[Reference:"Sonnet Trust me, I have not earned your dear rebuke" by Christina Rossetti.]

© Gert Strydom