Sonnets from the Portuguese: (ⅪⅤ)
by Elizabeth Barret Browning (1806-1861)
If thou must love me, let it be for nought Except for love’s sake only. Do not say ‘I love her for her smile … her look … her way Of speaking gently, … for a trick of thought That falls in well with mine, and certes brought A sense of pleasant ease on such a day’ — For these things in themselves, Beloved, may Be changed, or change for thee, — and love, so wrought, May be unwrought so. Neither love me for Thine own dear pity’s wiping my cheeks dry, — A creature might forget to weep, who bore Thy comfort long, and lose thy love thereby! But love me for love’s sake, that evermore Thou mayst love on, through love’s eternity.