English Poetry II: From Collins to Fitzgerald.
The Harvard Classics. 1909–14. |
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| 603. Sonnets from the Portuguese |
| | | XXVI |
| | | Elizabeth Barrett Browning (1806–1861) |
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| I LIVED with visions for my company | |
| Instead of men and women, years ago, | |
| And found them gentle mates, nor thought to know | |
| A sweeter music than they played to me. | |
| But soon their trailing purple was not free | 5 |
| Of this world’s dust, their lutes did silent grow, | |
| And I myself grew faint and blind below | |
| Their vanishing eyes. Then THOU didst come—to be, | |
| Belovèd, what they seemed. Their shining fronts, | |
| Their songs, their splendors (better, yet the same, | 10 |
| As river-water hallowed into fonts), | |
| Met in thee, and from out thee overcame | |
| My soul with satisfaction of all wants: | |
| Because God’s gifts put man’s best dreams to shame. | |
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