English Poetry II: From Collins to Fitzgerald.
The Harvard Classics. 1909–14. |
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| 589. Sonnets from the Portuguese |
| | | XII |
| | | Elizabeth Barrett Browning (1806–1861) |
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| INDEED this very love which is my boast, | |
| And which, when rising up from breast to brow, | |
| Doth crown me with a ruby large enow | |
| To draw men’s eyes and prove the inner cost,— | |
| This love even, all my worth, to the uttermost, | 5 |
| I should not love withal, unless that thou | |
| Hadst set me an example, shown me how, | |
| When first thine earnest eyes with mine were crossed, | |
| And love called love. And thus, I cannot speak | |
| Of love even, as a good thing of my own: | 10 |
| Thy soul hath snatched up mine all faint and weak, | |
| And placed it by thee on a golden throne,— | |
| And that I love (O soul, we must be meek!) | |
| Is by thee only, whom I love alone. | |
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