How do I love you? Let me count the ways
I love you wherever my soul can reach when you're not in sight
I love you no matter how long I live
I love you daily silently by day and night
I love you freely as men strive for right
I love you purely as they turn from praise
I love you with the passion to forget my old griefs
I love you like I have a heart of a child
I love you with the love I used to have for my old saints
I love you with the breath, smiles, tears of all my life
And if God wills, I will love you better after I die.
***
How do I love thee?
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 candle-light.
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.
- Elizabeth Barrett Browning
This poem has not been translated into any other language yet.
I would like to translate this poem