If Thou Must Love Me 

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 may’st love on, through love’s eternity.

Elizabeth B Browning