| Arthur Quiller-Couch, comp. The Oxford Book of Victorian Verse. 1922. | | | Sonnets from the Portuguese
V. ‘When our two souls stand up erect and strong’ | | By Elizabeth Barrett Browning (1806–1861) |
| | | WHEN our two souls stand up erect and strong, | |
| Face to face, silent, drawing nigh and nigher, | |
| Until the lengthening wings break into fire | |
| At either curving point,—what bitter wrong | |
| Can the earth do us, that we should not long | 5 |
| Be here contented? Think! In mounting higher, | |
| The angels would press on us, and aspire | |
| To drop some golden orb of perfect song | |
| Into our deep, dear silence. Let us stay | |
| Rather on earth, Belovèd—where the unfit | 10 |
| Contrarious moods of men recoil away | |
| And isolate pure spirits, and permit | |
| A place to stand and love in for a day, | |
| With darkness and the death-hour rounding it. | | | | |
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