Love’s Reason + 

For that thy face is fair I love thee not; + 

Nor yet because thy brown benignant eyes + 

Have sudden gleams of gladness and surprise, + 

Like woodland brooks that cross a sunlit spot: + 

Nor for thy body, born without a blot, + 

And loveliest when it shines with no disguise + 

Pure as the star of Eve in Paradise⁠— + 

For all these outward things I love thee not: + 

But for a something in thy form and face, + 

Thy looks and ways, of primal harmony; + 

A certain soothing charm, a vital grace + 

That breathes of the eternal womanly, + 

And makes me feel the warmth of Nature’s breast, + 

When in her arms, and thine, I sink to rest. + 