Sara Teasdale, comp. (1884–1933).
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 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 | 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 pity’s 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 love’s sake, that evermore | |
| Thou mayst love on through love’s eternity. | | | | |
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