Bliss Carman, et al., eds. The World’s Best Poetry.
Volume II. Love. 1904. | | | | VIII. Wedded Love | Sonnets from the Portuguese
XVIII. I never gave a lock of hair away | | Elizabeth Barrett Browning (1806–1861) |
| | | I NEVER gave a lock of hair away | |
| To a man, Dearest, except this to thee, | |
| Which now upon my fingers thoughtfully | |
| I ring out to the full brown length and say | |
| “Take it.” My day of youth went yesterday; | 5 |
| My hair no longer bounds to my foot’s glee. | |
| Nor plant I it from rose or myrtle tree, | |
| As girls do, any more. It only may | |
| Now shade on two pale cheeks, the mark of tears, | |
| Taught drooping from the head that hangs aside | 10 |
| Through sorrow’s trick. I thought the funeral shears | |
| Would take this first, but Love is justified,— | |
| Take it thou,… finding pure, from all those years, | |
| The kiss my mother left here when she died. | | | | |
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