| Arthur Quiller-Couch, ed. 1919. The Oxford Book of English Verse: 1250–1900. |
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| Elizabeth Barrett Browning. 1806–1861 |
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682. Sonnets from the Portuguese
i |
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| I THOUGHT once how Theocritus had sung | |
| Of the sweet years, the dear and wish'd-for years, | |
| Who each one in a gracious hand appears | |
| To bear a gift for mortals old or young: | |
| And, as I mused it in his antique tongue, | 5 |
| I saw in gradual vision through my tears | |
| The sweet, sad years, the melancholy years— | |
| Those of my own life, who by turns had flung | |
| A shadow across me. Straightway I was 'ware, | |
| So weeping, how a mystic Shape did move | 10 |
| Behind me, and drew me backward by the hair; | |
| And a voice said in mastery, while I strove, | |
| 'Guess now who holds thee?'—'Death,' I said. But there | |
| The silver answer rang—'Not Death, but Love.' | |
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