Will you love me...?

not with flowery phrases or soaring sonnets

but with a timely word of hope on a dark day?

Will you love me...?

not with grandiose gifts and gestures

but with your companionship and well-timed cold water in the heat?

Will you love me,

not with promises of eternal bliss,

but with the consistency of your presence with each new day

and a hand on my back on the long, hard road?