As much as child e'er lov'd

Adah and Maggie woke us up a little early on Tuesday morning: "We would like to wish you a Happy Valentine's Day," Adah began. We promptly (and a little grumpily) tossed them out and told them to come back after 7:00. We should have been a little nicer. We didn't realize that the girls had been in their room composing poetry for us.  A little later, we got up, but they sent us back to bed so they could share their poems with us as they had originally intended. I was already feeling bad for sending them out when they were just trying to be nice, and then their sweet and funny poems really did us in.

They stood at the foot of the bed and took turns reciting their verse.

Maggie gave me the paper where they'd obviously worked out the poetry, and I've retyped them here, but fixed the spelling and punctuation so they all make sense.

To both of us:

Roses are red

Violets are blue.

We love you--

our parents--wahoo!

To Damon:

Your airplanes fly,

Butterflies, too.

You're sweet as ice cream.

We love you.

To Jillaire:

Roses are red

Your pajamas are blue

[Maggie had to stop here and qualify, or try to come up with some other line, since my pajamas aren't really blue, but they needed a rhyme--too funny.] 

                                         We love you,

                                         Mommy-moo.



To both of us, recited together:

You've taught things to both of us,

Like lessons saying not to cuss,

And that our family love

Should stay pure as a dove.

We love our girls!



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And, from the Bard, a note on the post title:

      Sir, I love you more than [words] can wield the matter,

Dearer than eyesight, space, and liberty,

Beyond what can be value, rich or rare,

No less than life, with grace, health, beauty, honor;

As much as child e'er lov'd, or father found;

A love that makes breat poor, and speech unable;

Beyond all manner of so much I love you.

--The Tragedy of King Lear (1.1) by William Shakespeare