How Do I Love Thee - E.B. Browning

How Do
I Love Thee? (Sonnet 43)

Elizabeth
Barrett Browning, 1806 – 1861

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.