to the man i married

You are my earth and all that earth implies
The gravity that ballasts me in space,
the air I breathe, the land that stills my cries
For food & shelter against devouring days
and sets my north & south, east & west,
You are my final elemental clay
The driven heart must turn to for its rest

If in your arms that hold me now so near
I lift my keening thoughts to Helicon
As trees rooted to the earth uprear
Their quickening leaves & flowers to the sun
You who are earth. O never doubt that I
Need you no less because I need the sky

_____________________________________

Another hopeless romantic poetry like Browning's.  What passion has driven the persona to write such poetry of love?  The first line typically suggests that the protagonist is the earth of the persona?  What is meant by this? Literally, it just means that the persona can never live nor breathe without the protagonist. The gravity that ballasts me into space suggests that the protagonist is the persona's balancer, without the protagonist then the persona would be lost.  For food and shelter against devouring days is poetically spoken and would be tantamount to "when we're hungry, love will keep us alive". And sets my north & south, east & west, what else could be stated that the persona's life evolves around the protagonist.

Helicon, I guess refers to Mount Helicon in Boeotia, Greece.  It can be further analyzed into two.  Helicon, is the mountain of the Muses where reside which can lead to the last line where the persona said, need you no less because I need the sky.  Muses are living near the gods back in ancient mythology wherein the gods live in the sky.  Furthermore, Helicon can be referred to as the sky and/or gods and basically, the persona worships the protagonist in the poem just like the Greeks worshipped the gods and goddesses and muses back then.