Thoughts on romance

I've been reading a biography of Toyohiko Kagawa by Cyril Davey that is blowing my mind (Kagawa is one of my heroes). His courtship with his wife is interesting--but what struck me the most was Kagawa's prayer concerning the seeming conflict between his vocation of living in the slums and his blossoming love for Haru. Here is one of his poems--
Love, linger not to whisper your temptation,
Seek not to bind me with your heavy chain.
I would be free to seek the world's salvation,
I would be free to rescue men from pain.

When Haru indicated to him that she wanted to fully join him in his work in the slums, he asked her to marry him, and their beautiful wedding was not followed up by a relaxing week on some refreshing island escape, but by a short jinriksha ride back to Kagawa's hut in the slum of Shinkawa.
Needless to say, life was hard for the couple, and Kagawa wrote the following to his love--

You who dwell
In the heart of my heart,
Listen to me;
This you must know--
I am a child of grief and pain,
Bending my fingers to count my woe.
You yield me
Everything;
But I
Have nothing
I can bring
To give to you.
Know
You have married
Poverty, sorrow;
Bear it with me;
The storm will be over
Tomorrow.
A little while
For us
The rod;
And then,
Then, God!