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

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.




Author's Notes/Comments: 

I consider it one of the most romantic poems everwritten by Elizabeth Barrett Browning who wrote to her own beloved husband. The poem is still widely quoted more than a hundred years later by lovers of all generations.

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