If Thou Must Love Me by Elizabeth Barrett Browning
b"Elizabeth Barrett Browning read by Classic Poetry Aloud:\\nhttp://www.classicpoetryaloud.com/\\n\\nGiving voice to classic poetry.\\n\\n---------------------------------------------------\\n\\n If Thou Must Love Me\\n\\nby Elizabeth Barrett Browning (1806 \\u2013 1861)\\n\\nSonnets from the Portuguese iv \\n \\nIf thou must love me, let it be for naught \\n Except for love's sake only. Do not say, \\n 'I love her for her smile\\u2014her look\\u2014her way \\nOf speaking gently,\\u2014for a trick of thought \\nThat falls in well with mine, and certes brought \\n A sense of pleasant ease on such a day'\\u2014 \\n For these things in themselves, Belov\\xe8d, may \\nBe changed, or change for thee\\u2014and love, so wrought, \\nMay be unwrought so. Neither love me for \\n Thine own dear pity's wiping my cheeks dry: \\nA creature might forget to weep, who bore \\n Thy comfort long, and lose thy love thereby! \\nBut love me for love's sake, that evermore \\n Thou mayst love on, through love's eternity.\\n\\n\\nComments \\nFor all the Sonnets from the Portuguese, visit http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/2002"