Sonnets From The Portuguese #XIV

If thou must love me, let it be for naught
Except for love’s sake only.
Do not say “I love her for her smile,
her looks, her way of speaking gently”,
for a trick of thought that falls in well in mine,
and ores brought a sense of pleasant ease on such a day!
For these things in themselves, Beloved,
may be changed, or changed 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 love thy comfort long, and lose they love thereby!
But love me for love’s sake, that ever more.
Thou mayst love on, or through love’s eternity.