English Poetry II: From Collins to Fitzgerald.
The Harvard Classics. 1909–14. |
| |
| 600. Sonnets from the Portuguese |
| | | XXIII |
| | | Elizabeth Barrett Browning (1806–1861) |
| |
| |
| IS it indeed so? If I lay here dead, | |
| Wouldst thou miss any life in losing mine? | |
| And would the sun for thee more coldly shine | |
| Because of grave-damps falling round my head? | |
| I marvelled, my Belovèd, when I read | 5 |
| Thy thought so in the letter. I am thine— | |
| But … so much to thee? Can I pour thy wine | |
| While my hands tremble? Then my soul, instead | |
| Of dreams of death, resumes life’s lower range. | |
| Then, love me, Love! look on me—breathe on me! | 10 |
| As brighter ladies do not count it strange, | |
| For love, to give up acres and degree, | |
| I yield the grave for thy sake, and exchange | |
| My near sweet view of Heaven, for earth with thee! | |
| |
|
|
|
