Elizabeth Barrett Browning (1806-1861). Grief. J. C. Squire, ed. 1921. A Book of Women's Verse

J. C. Squire, ed. A Book of Women’s Verse. 1921.

Grief

By Elizabeth Barrett Browning (1806–1861)


I TELL you, hopeless grief is passionless;
That only men incredulous of despair,
Half-taught in anguish, through the midnight air
Beat upward to God’s throne in loud access
Of shrieking and reproach. Full desertness	5
In souls, as countries, lieth silent-bare
Under the blanching, vertical eye-glare
Of the absolute Heavens. Deep-hearted man, express
Grief for thy Dead in silence like to death:—
Most like a monumental statue set	10
In everlasting watch and moveless woe,
Till itself crumble to the dust beneath.
Touch it: the marble eyelids are not wet;
If it could weep, it could arise and go.