275. If Thou Must Love Me by Elizabeth Barrett Browning
b"EB Browning read by Classic Poetry Aloud:\\n http://www.classicpoetryaloud.com/\\n\\nGiving voice to the poetry of the past.\\n\\n---------------------------------------------------\\nIf Thou Must Love Me\\n\\nby Elizabeth Barrett Browning (1806 \\u2013 1861)\\nSonnets from the Portuguese iv \\n \\nIf thou must love me, let it be for naught\\nExcept for love's sake only. Do not say,\\n'I love her for her smile \\u2014 her look \\u2014 her way\\nOf speaking gently,\\u2014 for a trick of thought\\nThat falls in well with mine, and certes brought\\nA sense of pleasant ease on such a day' \\u2014\\nFor these things in themselves, Belov\\xe8d, may\\nBe changed, or change for thee \\u2014 and love, so wrought,\\nMay be unwrought so. Neither love me for\\nThine own dear pity's wiping my cheeks dry:\\nA creature might forget to weep, who bore\\nThy comfort long, and lose thy love thereby!\\nBut love me for love's sake, that evermore\\nThou mayst love on, through love's eternity.\\n\\nIn memory of Elizabeth Barrett Browning, who died this day, 30 June, in 1861.\\n\\nFirst aired: 12 October 2007\\n\\nFor hundreds more poetry readings, visit the Classic Poetry Aloud index.\\n\\nReading \\xa9 Classic Poetry Aloud 2008"