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 certs 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 comfot long, and lose thy love thereby.
But love me for love’s sake, that evermore
Thou may’st love on, through love’s eternity.