© Joan Currie

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 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.
from If Though Must Love Me by Elizabeth Barrett Browning 

 Surely after all these years our love is transcendent.