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,  

 Since one might well forget to weep, who bore  

Thy comfort long, and lose thy love thereby.  

 But love me for love's sake, that evermore

Thou may'st love on, through love's eternity.