Love means more when life is hard

Love means more when life is hard
And choices lead to sacrifice,
And every passion has its price
In duties paid and windows barred.

Though I have loved for many years,
Love is still for me a spring
That will from stone sweet fragrance bring,
And make a garden of our tears.

The love of children, children's children,
Flowing to the distant verge,
Flowing from the ancient urge
To make a home of wilderness,

Has been my joy, my inner dance
Of ecstasy, as day by day
I move the mountains in my way
And claim through love the gifts of chance.