love
From sonnets from the Portugese (1850) by Elisabeth Barrett Browning
If thou must love me
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.
posted by manpreet kaur at Wednesday, April 12, 2006
3 Comments:
There's no such thing as conditional love, right?
Reading this poem was interesting for me. I've never thought of loving someone for their smile or loving anybody 'for' anything. I want to love everybody for the sake of God who created all that there is to love.
b-e-a-u-t-i-f-u-l
p.s.// I don't know about you Prabhu ji, I won't say I've loved for the smile or something other, but I've definitely loved for the kind gestures, for the thoughtfulness, and somehow they are all conditional. The only people I do love just for the sake of love, would be my family and of course God :)
I think eventually you grow to love for the sake of love.
Anoop
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