English Poetry II: From Collins to Fitzgerald.
The Harvard Classics. 1909–14. |
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| 586. Sonnets from the Portuguese |
| | | IX |
| | | Elizabeth Barrett Browning (1806–1861) |
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| CAN it be right to give what I can give? | |
| To let thee sit beneath the fall of tears | |
| As salt as mine, and hear the sighing years | |
| Re-sighing on my lips renunciative | |
| Through those infrequent smiles which fail to live | 5 |
| For all thy adjurations? O my fears, | |
| That this can scarce be right! We are not peers, | |
| So to be lovers; and I own, and grieve, | |
| That givers of such gifts as mine are, must | |
| Be counted with the ungenerous. Out, alas! | 10 |
| I will not soil thy purple with my dust, | |
| Nor breathe my poison on thy Venice-glass, | |
| Nor give thee any love—which were unjust. | |
| Beloved, I only love thee! let it pass. | |
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