Sara Teasdale, comp. (18841933). The Answering Voice: One Hundred Love Lyrics by Women. 1917. | | If Thou Must Love Me, Let It Be for Nought | By Elizabeth Barrett Browning |
| IF thou must love me, let it be for nought | |
Except for loves 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 | 5 |
A sense of pleasant ease on such a day; | |
For these things in themselves, belovèd, may | |
Be changed, or change for thee: and love so wrought | |
May be unwrought so. Neither love me for | |
Thine own dear pitys wiping my cheeks dry: | 10 |
A creature might forget to weep, who bore | |
Thy comfort long, and lose thy love thereby. | |
But love me for loves sake, that evermore | |
Thou mayst love on through loves eternity. | | | |
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