English Poetry II: From Collins to Fitzgerald.
The Harvard Classics. 1909–14. |
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| 619. Sonnets from the Portuguese |
| | | XLII |
| | | Elizabeth Barrett Browning (1806–1861) |
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| “MY future will not copy fair my past”— | |
| I wrote that once; and thinking at my side | |
| My ministering life-angel justified | |
| The word by his appealing look upcast | |
| To the white throne of God, I turned at last, | 5 |
| And there, instead, saw thee, not unallied | |
| To angels in thy soul! Then I, long tried | |
| By natural ills, received the comfort fast, | |
| While budding, at thy sight, my pilgrim’s staff | |
| Gave out green leaves with morning dews impearled. | 10 |
| I seek no copy now of life’s first half: | |
| Leave here the pages with long musing curled, | |
| And write me new my future’s epigraph, | |
| New angel mine, unhoped for in the world! | |
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