| Arthur Quiller-Couch, comp. The Oxford Book of Victorian Verse. 1922. | | | | The Best | | By Elizabeth Barrett Browning (1806–1861) |
| | | WHAT ’S the best thing in the world? | |
| June-rose, by May-dew impearl’d; | |
| Sweet south-wind, that means no rain; | |
| Truth, not cruel to a friend; | |
| Pleasure, not in haste to end; | 5 |
| Beauty, not self-deck’d and curl’d | |
| Till its pride is over-plain; | |
| Light, that never makes you wink; | |
| Memory, that gives no pain; | |
| Love, when, so, you’re loved again. | 10 |
| What ’s the best thing in the world? | |
| —Something out of it, I think. | | | | |
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