English Poetry II: From Collins to Fitzgerald.
The Harvard Classics. 1909–14. |
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| 588. Sonnets from the Portuguese |
| | | XI |
| | | Elizabeth Barrett Browning (1806–1861) |
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| AND therefore if to love can be desert, | |
| I am not all unworthy. Cheeks as pale | |
| As these you see, and trembling knees that fail | |
| To bear the burden of a heavy heart,— | |
| This weary minstrel-life that once was girt | 5 |
| To climb Aornus, and can scarce avail | |
| To pipe now ’gainst the valley nightingale | |
| A melancholy music,—why advert | |
| To these things? O Belovèd, it is plain | |
| I am not of thy worth nor for thy place! | 10 |
| And yet, because I love thee, I obtain | |
| From that same love this vindicating grace, | |
| To live on still in love, and yet in vain,— | |
| To bless thee, yet renounce thee to thy face. | |
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