CAMELOT FANTASIES

Sonnets from the Portuguese XIV



 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.

 -- Elizabeth Barrett Browning