If thou must love me, let it be for nought
This, the poem's first line, ends on a small cliffhanger. The speaker seems to ask her lover to let their love be "for nought," implying that it will be entirely in vain or without purpose. Enjambment, or the breaking of lines mid-phrase, creates a small moment of deception—the next line reveals that the speaker wishes not to be loved "for nought," but rather for a highly specific reason— "love's sake only." In other words, she wishes to be loved, not for nothing, but for something very important.
Do not say,
"I love her for her smile—her look—her way
Of speaking gently,
When urging her lover not to cite specific attributes of hers as the cause for his love, the speaker begins by listing a series of traits associated with Victorian femininity. These are traits related to restraint, beauty, and kindness—all of which were highly valued in women during the time at which Browning wrote this poem. By asking for these markers of femininity to be excluded from her lover's emotional calculus, the speaker indicates a desire for love outside the era's heteronormative paradigm.
for a trick of thought
That falls in well with mine, and certes brought
A sense of pleasant ease on such a day"—
After listing a number of traditionally feminine ideals, the speaker, somewhat surprisingly, changes direction. She asks her lover not to even take into consideration such factors as mental compatibility or enjoying one another's company. This is, in many ways, a more surprising set of requests. They suggest that even profound experiences of connection that reach well beyond the superficial are, for the speaker, insufficient reasons for love. Rather, she wants her relationship to be based on ineffable and even mystical factors.
Neither love me for
Thine own dear pity's wiping my cheeks dry:
Changing tack again, the speaker here asks her lover not to base his love on the pity he feels for her or the comfort he offers her. After all, she goes on to explain, this basis for love might become irrelevant if she stops needing pity and comfort. The phrasing of the request suggests yet another explanation. By asking that he not love her for "thine own dear pity," the speaker suggests that such a love would involve the listener loving his own feelings, and holding his pity "dear," rather than truly loving the speaker herself.
