Romantic Gestures

Last month my sister-in-law called to ask if I knew any good poems under twenty-five lines. I was at work and didn't have my 1997 edition of Perrine's Sound and Sense with me, so I started searching for poems online.
I found a poem I felt compelled to share with James.

To My Dear and Loving Husband
By  Anne Bradstreet   Nicole*

If ever two were one, then surely we.
If ever man were loved by wife, then thee;
If ever wife was happy in a man,
Compare with me ye women if you can.
I prize thy love more than whole mines of gold,
Or all the riches that the East doth hold.
My love is such that rivers cannot quench,
Nor ought but love from thee give recompense.
Thy love is such I can no way repay; 
The heavens reward thee manifold, I pray.
Then while we live, in love let's so persever,
That when we live no more we may live ever.

The subject line read, "I wrote a poem for you . . . sort of."

This was James's response:

"I plagiarized a poem for you" sounds less romantic than it is. ;)

This was unexpected, so I replied,

So the gesture is still romantic?  

He wrote back,

Absolutely. :)  

Tonight James and I are going on a date. We're homebodies, so we're cool making dinner each night and hanging out with our children, so going out to dinner and to a party together is quite exciting. But even without Valentine's Day or date nights, I'm glad to know we can still keep romance in our lives through plagiarism.