Nursing 101, or,

Unless one can think, when the song is done,
No other is soft in the rhythm;
Unless one can feel, when left by One,
That all men else go with him;
Unless one can know, when unpraised by his breath,
That one’s beauty itself wants proving;
Unless one can swear "For life, for death!" -
Oh, fear to call it loving!

Unless one can muse in a crowd all day
On the absent face that fixed you;
Unless one can love, as the angels may,
With the breadth of heaven betwixt you;
Unless one can dream that his faith is fast,
Through behoving and unbehoving;
Unless one can die when the dream is past -
Oh, never call it loving!


A Woman's Shortcomings
Elizabeth Barrett Browning