English Poetry II: From Collins to Fitzgerald.
The Harvard Classics. 1909–14. |
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| 581. Sonnets from the Portuguese |
| | | IV |
| | | Elizabeth Barrett Browning (1806–1861) |
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| THOU hast thy calling to some palace-floor, | |
| Most gracious singer of high poems! where | |
| The dancers will break footing, from the care | |
| Of watching up thy pregnant lips for more. | |
| And dost thou lift this house’s latch too poor | 5 |
| For hand of thine? and canst thou think and bear | |
| To let thy music drop here unaware | |
| In folds of golden fulness at my door? | |
| Look up and see the casement broken in, | |
| The bats and owlets builders in the roof! | 10 |
| My cricket chirps against thy mandolin. | |
| Hush, call no echo up in further proof | |
| Of desolation! there’s a voice within | |
| That weeps … as thou must sing … alone, aloof. | |
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