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Home  »  A Book of Women’s Verse  »  Sonnets from the Portuguese. xliii

J. C. Squire, ed. A Book of Women’s Verse. 1921.

By Elizabeth Barrett Browning (1806–1861)

Sonnets from the Portuguese. xliii

HOW do I love thee? Let me count the ways.

I love thee to the depth and breadth and height

My soul can reach, when feeling out of sight

For the ends of Being and ideal Grace.

I love thee to the level of every day’s

Most quiet need, by sun and candlelight.

I love thee freely, as men strive for Right;

I love thee purely, as they turn from Praise.

I love thee with the passion put to use

In my old griefs, and with my childhood’s faith.

I love thee with a love I seemed to lose

With my lost saints,—I love thee with the breath,

Smiles, tears, of all my life!—and if God choose,

I shall but love thee better after death.