If Thou Must Love Me,
Let It Be For Nought
Elizabeth Barrett Browning
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 brings
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 may love on, through
love's eternity.
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