Sonnet XIV (Browning)

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by Elizabeth Barrett Browning.

    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 mayst love on, through love's eternity.


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