Dass du mich liebst, macht mich mir wert

The Spring is not acquainted with my Dove and me, as the Winter was;—how then can we expect her to be kindly to us? We really must continue to walk out and meet her, and make friends with her; then she will salute your cheek with her balmiest kiss, whenever she gets a chance. As to the east wind, if ever the imaginative portion of my brain recover from its torpor, I mean to personify it as a wicked, spiteful, blustering, treacherous—in short, altogether devilish sort of body, whose principle of life it is to make as much mischief as he can. The west wind—or whatever is the gentlest wind of heaven—shall assume your aspect, and be humanised and angelicised with your traits of character, and the sweet West shall finally triumph over the fiendlike East, and rescue the world from his miserable tyranny; and if I tell the story well, I am sure my loving and beloved West Wind will kiss me for it. [...]

How did I live before I knew you—before I possessed your affection! I reckon upon your love as something that is to endure when everything that can perish has perished—though my trust is sometimes mingled with fear, because I feel myself unworthy of your love. But if I am worthy of if you will always love me; and if there be anything good and pure in me, it will be proved by my always loving you.
Love Letters of Nathaniel Hawthorne, Volume I 

Liebesfrühling
Du meine Seele, du mein Herz,
Du meine Wonn, o du mein Schmerz,
Du meine Welt, in der ich lebe,
Mein Himmel du, darein ich schwebe,
O du mein Grab, in das hinab
Ich ewig meinen Kummer gab.
Du bist die Ruh, du bist der Frieden,
Du bist der Himmel mir beschieden.
Daß du mich liebst, macht mich mir wert,
Dein Blick hat mich vor mir verklärt,
Du hebst mich liebend über mich,
Mein guter Geist, mein bessres Ich!

Friedrich Rückert (1788-1866)

Aus Hawthornes Liebesbriefen

My dear Sophie, your letters are no small portion of my spiritual food, and help to keep my soul alive, when otherwise it might languish unto death, or else become hardened and earth-incrusted, as seems to be the case with almost all the souls with whom I am in daily intercourse. [...]

It almost seems to me, now, as if beautiful days were wasted and thrown away, when we do not feel their beauty and heavenliness through one another. [...]

When we shall be endowed with our spiritual bodies, I think they will be so constituted, that we may send thoughts and feelings any distance, in no time at all, and transfuse them warm and fresh into the consciousness of those whom we love. Oh what a bliss it would be, at this moment; if I could be conscious of some purer feeling, some more delicate sentiment, some lovelier fantasy, than could possibly have had its birth in my own nature, and therefore be aware that my Dove was thinking through my mind and feeling through my heart!

Love Letters of Nathaniel Hawthorne, Volume I 

Wäre er imstande gewesen, sich seiner eigenen Empfindungen klar bewußt zu werden, so würde er gefunden haben, daß die wichtigste Grundlage, auf der seine feste, zärtliche, stolze Liebe zu seiner Frau ruhte, immer dieses Gefühl der Bewunderung für ihr Seelenleben war, für diese hohe sittliche Welt, in der seine Frau stets lebte und die ihm selbst beinah unzugänglich war.

Er war stolz darauf, daß sie so klug und gut war, sah ein, daß er auf geistigem Gebiet hinter ihr zurückstand, und freute sich um so mehr darüber, daß sie mit ihrer Seele nicht nur ihm gehörte, sondern sogar einen Teil seines eigenen Ich bildete.

(Leo Tolstoi: Krieg und Frieden, Epilog, Kapitel 15, S.447-448)