In love
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 everyday’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
Elizabeth Barrett Browning (1806-1861) composed her Sonnets From The Portuguese in 1845-6, while courting the man whom she would marry, Robert Browning. Sonnet 43 is perhaps the best expression of her deep love for him — a love so transformative that it arguably reversed her long-term invalidism. She only revealed the existence of the sonnets to him in 1849, soon after the death of his mother, and it has been said that they helped him move away from grieving and focus on Elizabeth herself and their young son.
