English Poetry II: From Collins to Fitzgerald.
The Harvard Classics. 1909–14. |
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| 595. Sonnets from the Portuguese |
| | | XVIII |
| | | Elizabeth Barrett Browning (1806–1861) |
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| 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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