English Poetry II: From Collins to Fitzgerald.
The Harvard Classics. 1909–14. |
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| 597. Sonnets from the Portuguese |
| | | XX |
| | | Elizabeth Barrett Browning (1806–1861) |
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| BELOVÈD, my Belovèd, when I think | |
| That thou wast in the world a year ago, | |
| What time I sat alone here in the snow | |
| And saw no footprint, heard the silence sink | |
| No moment at thy voice, but, link by link, | 5 |
| Went counting all my chains as if that so | |
| They never could fall off at any blow | |
| Struck by thy possible hand,—why, thus I drink | |
| Of life’s great cup of wonder! Wonderful, | |
| Never to feel thee thrill the day or night | 10 |
| With personal act or speech,—nor ever cull | |
| Some prescience of thee with the blossoms white | |
| Thou sawest growing! Atheists are as dull, | |
| Who cannot guess God’s presence out of sight. | |
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