English Poetry II: From Collins to Fitzgerald.
The Harvard Classics. 1909–14. |
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| 612. Sonnets from the Portuguese |
| | | XXXV |
| | | Elizabeth Barrett Browning (1806–1861) |
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| IF I leave all for thee, wilt thou exchange | |
| And be all to me? Shall I never miss | |
| Home-talk and blessing and the common kiss | |
| That comes to each in turn, nor count it strange, | |
| When I look up, to drop on a new range | 5 |
| Of walls and floors, another home than this? | |
| Nay, wilt thou fill that place by me which is | |
| Filled by dead eyes too tender to know change? | |
| That’s hardest. If to conquer love, has tried, | |
| To conquer grief, tries more, as all things prove; | 10 |
| For grief indeed is love and grief beside. | |
| Alas, I have grieved so I am hard to love. | |
| Yet love me—wilt thou? Open thine heart wide, | |
| And fold within the wet wings of thy dove. | |
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