Sonnet XXIX
William Shakespeare

When in disgrace with fortune and men's eyes
I all alone beweep my outcast state,
And trouble deaf heaven with my bootless cries,
And look upon myself, and curse my fate,
Wishing me like to one more rich in hope,
Featured like him, like him with friends possessed,
Desiring this man's art, and that man's scope,
With what I most enjoy contented least;
Yet in these thoughts my self almost despising,
Haply I think on thee, and then my state,
Like to the lark at break of day arising
From sullen earth, sings hymns at heaven's gate;
For thy sweet love remembered such wealth brings
That then I scorn to change my state with kings.

Thursday is Valentine's Day -- and for us, that's two different anniversaries. The very first email I got from a happy, sparkly, shining prism dragon was on 14 February 1995... and exactly a year later, on 14 February 1996, I arrived in Dallas to move in with her.

I memorized this poem two decades before I met quelonzia -- the Renaissance Faire offered free admission to those who could recite one of the Bard's sonnets from memory -- but when I'm at my lowest ebb, I remember it... and I remember her.

I love you, Fire of my Heart.